WASHINGTON, D.C. – USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Missouri invites qualifying farmers and landowners to apply to receive assistance through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) by April 29, 2022. Funding is available in Perry for one regional partnership project and in Ste. Genevieve for two partnership projects.
The RCPP project and associated counties is:
- Restoring Glade and Woodland Communities for Threatened Species in the Ozarks of Southeast Missouri (Bollinger, Butler, Carter, Iron, Madison, Oregon, Perry, Reynolds, Ripley, Shannon, St. Francois, St. Genevieve, and Wayne Counties): This project will focus on the restoration of glade, woodland, and forest habitats on private land for at-risk species such as the Indiana Bat, Gray Bat, Mead’s Milkweed, Hine’s Emerald Dragonfly, Ozark Hellbender, and the Grotto Sculpin. The Missouri Department of Conservation is the lead partner on this project.
- Missouri Targeted Conservation (portions of Audrain, Boone, Callaway, Cooper, Jefferson, Johnson, Lafayette, Macon, Monroe, Pettis, Randolph, Saline, Shelby, St. Francois, St. Louis, and Ste. Genevieve Counties): This project aims to identify areas within a watershed where conservation practices can achieve the most economically efficient loss reductions for sediment, nutrients, and pathogens into waterways. The Blackwater, Cahokia-Joachim, and South Fork Salt watersheds have been identified as those Missouri areas for 2022. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is the lead partner on this project.
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.
“RCPP is a unique program that leverages non-federal investments brought by conservation partners to accelerate conservation in selected project areas,” said Missouri NRCS State Conservationist Scott Edwards. “This approach helps us maximize the use of our collective resources to address locally identified concerns.”
Individuals and other entities actively engaged in agricultural production are eligible to participate in RCPP. RCPP offers a continuous application sign-up. However, to be considered for this round of funding, applications must be received by April 29, 2022. Applicants can sign-up for the 2022 program year by contacting their local USDA-NRCS Field Service Center.