The Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies applauds today’s $370 million
funding announcement from U.S. Department
of Agriculture Secretary Vilsack on the new Regional Conservation Partnership
Program (RCPP). RCPP was created by the 2014 Farm Bill to support
partnership-driven, innovative conservation projects on farms, ranches and
private forest land.
In this first RCPP announcement, 24 percent
of funds – approximately $90 million – are going to projects that name fish and
wildlife habitat as the primary resource concern. At least 13 state fish and wildlife agencies
are contributing partners on at least 16
successful RCPP projects, totaling more than $65 million in Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
funds. RCPP project partners are expected to leverage the USDA contribution
with their own resources, bringing the total investment from today’s
announcement close to $800 million.
State fish and wildlife agencies and their
partners will be using RCPP project funds to address a variety of priority fish
and wildlife species and habitats: from Arizona pronghorn antelope to Gopher
Tortoise in Florida, to Cerulean Warblers in Appalachian states. The
states and their partners will innovatively use RCPP funds to help agricultural
producers sustainably manage forests, restore grasslands, improve water
quality, protect farms and ranches and enhance irrigation efficiency, to name a
few.
RCPP allows partners to decide which resource
concerns to focus on, and where and how to target program funding. Partners
from the 115 successful projects announced today will coordinate with the NRCS
to deliver their projects, providing financial and technical assistance to
agricultural producers through voluntary programs to enhance
conservation.
This
first application round for RCPP was highly competitive. Of approximately
600 pre-proposals, 231 projects were invited to submit full proposals. The
201 submitted full proposals requested about four times the available
funding. NRCS is expected to announce another funding round with
approximately $200 million available this spring.
> Read the full RCPP announcement
> Learn more about AFWA's Agricultural Conservation Focus Area
