USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service Opens $500M for Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)
Eligible applicants: states, local authorities, local governments, tribal entities, higher education institutions. Applications are due: August 17, 2023
Announcement Type: Notice of Funding Opportunity (this program is accepting applications)
Opportunity: NRCS’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) for Federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2023
Overview and Eligible Uses: The RCPP promotes the coordination of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) conservation activities with partners that contribute a significant portion of the overall costs of a project. This coordination expands ability to address resource concerns at farm, watershed, and regional scales. Through the RCPP, NRCS co-invests with partners to implement projects that address conservation challenges and provide measurable improvements and outcomes for resource concerns.
Proposed projects should generate conservation benefits by addressing specific natural resource objectives in a state or multistate area or address one or more priority resource concerns within an NRCS-designated critical conservation area (CCA).
In FY 2023, NRCS will make a total of $500 million available for both the “Classic” component and the alternative funding arrangements (AFA). The $500 million total is funded from two separate authorizations: the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). Individual RCPP projects will only receive RCPP funds from a single source, either the 2018 Farm Bill funds or the IRA funds due to the specific, measurable climate-smart targeting required in the IRA. NRCS will prioritize using IRA funds for projects that will implement climate-smart agriculture conservation activities which are targeted to assist agricultural producers and nonindustrial private forestland owners.
Amount: The maximum RCPP funding (combined FA and TA) available for any project selected under this announcement is $25 million. The minimum funding amount for an RCPP project is $250,000. Up to $50 million is being made available specifically for NRCS to enter into AFAs with Indian Tribes
Award Type: Partnership Agreements
Eligible Applicants:
An agricultural or silvicultural producer association or other group of producers.
A state or unit of local government.
An Indian Tribe.
A farmer cooperative.
A water district, irrigation district, acequia, rural water district or association, or other organization with specific water delivery authority to agricultural producers.
A municipal water or wastewater treatment entity.
An institution of higher education.
An organization, business or entity with an established history of working cooperatively with producers, as determined by NRCS, to address: (a) local conservation priorities related to agricultural production, wildlife habitat development, or nonindustrial private forest land management; or (b) critical watershed-scale soil erosion, water quality, sediment reduction, or other natural resource issues.
An entity, such as an Indian Tribe, state government, local government, or a nongovernmental organization, that has a farmland or grassland protection program that purchases agricultural land easements, as defined in 7 CFR 1468.3.
A conservation district.
Key Dates: Applications are due August 17, 2023
Key Links:
For a full list of currently available grant programs under the Infrastructure Law and other helpful tools, take a look at our Helpful Resources page.
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