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Partners will lead in new NRCS funding arrangement

USDA will fund $75 million in new Regional Conservation Partnership Program projects as part of Alternative Funding Arrangements as directed by the 2018 Farm Bill.

NRCS Deputy Chief for Programs Jimmy Bramblett tells Brownfield the new funding arrangements allow for more flexibility to support the development of new conservation approaches not traditionally implemented in the regional partnership.

“Under the Alternative Funding Arrangement, more of the funding goes directly to the partners,” he explains.  “Those partners basically work directly with those landowners in order to help them identify those resource concerns and the conservation practices they would be willing to employ.”

He says the purpose of the Regional Conservation Partnership Program is to leverage non-federal resources to expand conservation work across the country.

“One of the Congressional mandates with this program is we have to have a balance of not only state allocations, but also these Critical Conservation Areas in these broader landscapes like the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes with the Western Lake Erie, the Mississippi River.”

The funding will also support innovated concepts like Pay for Performance.

NRCS is accepting proposals until the end of May and will award 15 projects with an emphasis on climate-smart agriculture and forestry.