农业部拨5190万美元防治野猪：29个项目覆盖13州含加州
美国农业部（USDA）11月3日在华盛顿宣布，拨款5190万美元，资助13个州的29个合作项目，帮助各地应对野猪对美国农业、土地以及人畜健康构成的威胁。这批项目隶属总额1.05亿美元的「野猪根除与控制试点计划」，由农业部自然资源保护局（NRCS）与动植物卫生检验局（APHIS）联合执行。
获资助的州包括阿拉巴马州、阿肯色州、加利福尼亚州、佛罗里达州、佐治亚州、路易斯安那州、密西西比州、密苏里州、北卡罗来纳州、俄克拉荷马州、南卡罗来纳州、田纳西州与德克萨斯州。农业部表示，资金来自《工薪家庭减税法》（Working Families Tax Cuts Act），该法为 NRCS 的保护项目带来了数十年来最大规模的长期投入。
自然资源保护局局长 Colton L. Buckley 说：「野猪威胁着美国的耕作土地。通过这个计划，我们把美国的农业生产者与合作伙伴组织起来，共同防治野猪、保护农业景观。入选项目将在野猪危害最严重的地区，采取关键步骤根除并控制野猪。」动植物卫生检验局局长 Kelly Moore 表示，APHIS 将与 NRCS 的合作伙伴继续加强野猪根除与控制工作，减少野猪对农民与全国自然资源的损害。
农业部列举的项目包括：德克萨斯州土壤与水保护委员会在 Baylor、Brown、Coleman 等九个县开展三个项目，目标是把野猪数量降到可由受过培训、装备齐全的当地土地所有者控制的水平，五年内预计直接联系约200名生产者、影响约100万英亩耕作土地；阿拉巴马州土壤与水保护委员会在九个县开展四个项目，预计在至少10万英亩土地上作业，帮助生产者修复被野猪破坏的土地；路易斯安那州农业与林业厅的项目覆盖 Red River 与 Mississippi River 流域27个县、1660万英亩土地，将加强监测与诱捕、土地所有者培训与自然资源损害评估，并扩大协同清除行动。
农业部介绍，野猪会严重破坏植物与野生动物栖息地、土壤与水质等自然资源，也能传播疾病、危及牲畜与人群健康。入选合作伙伴将为土地所有者提供受损土地修复与农场诱捕等方面的协助与培训，资金通过与 NRCS 签订的拨款协议发放，各项目由合作伙伴、NRCS 与 APHIS 协同推进。
据农业部数据，「野猪根除与控制试点计划」自2020年以来已投入9290万美元、支持63个项目，在近900万英亩土地上协助了6700多名土地所有者减少野猪损害，合作伙伴还举办了800多场面向土地所有者的诱捕技术教学活动。
USDA Awards $51.9 Million to 29 Projects to Combat Feral Swine in 13 States
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced in Washington on November 3 that it has awarded $51.9 million to 29 partnership projects in 13 states to help partners respond to the threat feral swine pose to American agriculture, landscapes, and human and livestock health. The projects are part of a broader $105 million investment for the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program, run jointly by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
Projects were awarded in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. USDA said the funding was provided by the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, which it described as delivering the largest long-term investment in NRCS conservation programs in decades.
"Feral swine pose a threat to America's working lands, and through this program, we're bringing together America's agricultural producers and partners to combat feral swine and protect agricultural landscapes," said NRCS Chief Colton L. Buckley. "The selected projects will take critical steps to eradicate and control feral swine across the nation where their impact is creating the most harm." APHIS Administrator Kelly Moore said APHIS looks forward to continuing to work with NRCS partners to strengthen efforts to eradicate and control feral swine populations for the benefit of agricultural and natural resources.
Examples of the selected projects include three projects by the Texas State Soil & Water Conservation Board across nine counties, aiming to reduce feral swine populations so they can be controlled by trained and equipped local landowners, directly engaging roughly 200 producers and affecting approximately 1 million working acres over five years; four projects by the Alabama Soil & Water Conservation Committee across nine counties, expected to work on at least 100,000 acres and help producers restore land damaged by feral swine; and a Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry project covering 16.6 million acres across 27 parishes in the Red River and Mississippi River basins, with enhanced surveillance and trapping, landowner education, damage assessments, and expanded coordinated removal operations.
USDA said feral swine can seriously damage plant and wildlife habitats, soils, water quality, and other natural resources, and can carry diseases that threaten livestock and people. Selected partners will provide landowner assistance for restoration and on-farm trapping, along with related services such as training, funded through grant agreements with NRCS, and all projects will be a collaborative effort among the partner, NRCS, and APHIS.
Since 2020, NRCS has invested $92.9 million in 63 projects under the pilot program, assisting more than 6,700 landowners on almost 9 million acres, and partners have conducted more than 800 events teaching trapping techniques to landowners, according to USDA.
来源：美国农业部
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：野猪在野外觅食（美国农业部 USDA 官方照片、公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons）。 / Photo: Feral swine foraging (U.S. Department of Agriculture official photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).
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