"Stewarding the land is an important part of ranching. Native American ranchers work with natural elements from the land, building and sustaining healthy communities, and sharing set responsibilities as the caretakers of the land.
This means managing the soil, water, air, plants and animals, and energy resources on every acre. It also means taking the necessary actions to address resource problems such as erosion, noxious rangeland weeds, or excess sediment or manure getting into the streams.
Developing and implementing a written conservation plan helps ranchers address such resource problems. A conservation plan provides a vision and identifies the actions needed to get each acre of land as healthy and productive as possible to promote greater longevity. This guide is designed to assist Native American ranchers in the development of conservation plans that address natural resource concerns while increasing opportunities to participate in USDA programs like USDA-EQIP."