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Sept. 19, 2012. In these photos, Steward Brian Keegstra, along with Connie Tuller and other volunteers, orchestrates the correct construction of an official WHIP (Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program) brushpile. Brian is hoping to construct a dozen or so more of these brushpiles this year in order to qualify the Trust for a NRCS (National Resources Conservation Service) grant.

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 reauthorized WHIP as a voluntary approach to improving wildlife habitat in our Nation. The Natural Resources Conservation Service administers WHIP to provide both technical assistance and up to 75 percent cost-share assistance to establish and improve fish and wildlife habitat. WHIP cost-share agreements between NRCS and the participant generally last from one year after the last conservation practice is implemented but not more than 10 years from the date the agreement is signed.