OpportunityTitle: Announcement for Program Funding for NRCS&#8217;s Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) for Federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2022
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: Entities that are classified as one of the following organizational types can serve as an eligible RCPP partner:&#8226; An agricultural or silvicultural producer association or other group of producers.&#8226; A State or unit of local government.&#8226; An Indian Tribe.&#8226; A farmer cooperative.&#8226; A water district, irrigation district, acequia, rural water district or association, or other organization with specific water delivery authority to agricultural producers.&#8226; A municipal water or wastewater treatment entity.&#8226; An institution of higher education.&#8226; An organization or entity with an established history of working cooperatively with producers on agricultural land, as determined by NRCS, to address&#8212;o Local conservation priorities related to agricultural production, wildlife habitat development, or nonindustrial private forest land management; o Critical watershed-scale soil erosion, water quality, sediment reduction, or other natural resource issues.&#8226; 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 Section 1468.3.&#8226; A conservation district.
Description: The Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) promotes coordination of NRCS conservation activities with partners that offer value-added contributions to expand our collective ability to address on-farm, watershed, and regional natural resource concerns. Through RCPP, NRCS seeks to co-invest with partners to implement projects that demonstrate innovative solutions to conservation challenges and provide measurable improvements and outcomes tied to the resource concerns they seek to address.Using guidance contained in this notice, potential RCPP partners propose projects that generate conservation benefits by addressing specific natural resource objectives in a State/multistate area or address one or more priority resource concerns within an NRCS-designated critical conservation area (CCA). NRCS and partners collaborate to design, promote, and implement RCPP projects on agricultural and nonindustrial private forest land. Through RCPP, NRCS may provide both financial and technical assistance funds to project partners and agricultural producers to carry out projects. RCPP proposals are evaluated through a competitive proposal process based on four criteria: impact, partner contributions, innovation, and partnership and management.Up to $200 million is available for RCPP projects through this announcement. Proposals are accepted from all 50 States, the Caribbean Area (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands), and U.S. territories in the Pacific Island Areas (Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands).SUBMISSIONS: Proposals must be submitted through the RCPP portal. See section VIII of this announcement for information on using the RCPP portal to submit proposals. Registration with USDA&#8217;s eAuthentication system is required to access the RCPP portal.FOR MORE INFORMATION: Applicants are encouraged to contact the appropriate State RCPP Coordinator(s) with questions. A list of State RCPP coordinators, as of the date of this announcement&#8217;s posting, is on the national RCPP website: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/programs/financial/rcpp/?cid=nrcseprd1477816. Applicants can also email the RCPP inbox&#8212;rcpp@usda.gov--with questions about the announcement. The national RCPP website is also a great source of current information about the program.Interested applicants are encouraged to participate in a webinar with general information about the Classic and AFA funding announcements. The webinar is scheduled for January 20, 2022 from 3-4:30 p.m. Eastern. Instructions for participating in the webinar are below:The conference begins at 3:00 PM Eastern Time on January 20, 2022; you may join the conference 10 minutes prior.To join the conference, click: https://ems8.intellor.com/login/842136 Join the Zoom event and follow the prompts to connect audio by computer or telephone.Need to join via phone only? 888-251-2949 or 215-861-0694 - Need an international number? Access Code: 2626600# .Zoom Support: 800-345-0857
GrantorContactEmailDescription: NRCS National RCPP Staff
GrantorContactText: NRCS National RCPP Staff
CloseDateExplanation: Applications must be received by NRCS by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on April 13, 2022.