COLUMBIA — USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Missouri invites qualifying farmers and landowners to apply to receive technical and financial assistance through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). Funding is available for seven regional partnership projects. There is one project available in Perry County and two projects available in the counties of Ste Genevieve and St Francois. See below information on the local projects. Applications must be received by January 13, 2023 to be considered for this round of funding.
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, Ste. Genevieve, and Wayne counties): This project focuses 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. Practices that protect subsurface water quality will be Implemented in the Karst area of Perry County to protect the Grotto Sculpin. The Missouri Department of Conservation is the lead partner on this project.
Missouri Targeted Conservation (portions of Audrain, Bates, Boone, Callaway, Cooper, Grundy, Harrison, Jefferson, Johnson, Lafayette, Macon, Mercer, Monroe, Pettis, Randolph, Saline, Shelby, St. Francois, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, and Vernon counties): This project aims to identify areas within a watershed where identified conservation practices can achieve the most economically efficient loss reductions for sediment, nutrients, and pathogens into waterways. The Blackwater, Cahokia-Joachim, South Fork Salt, Little Osage, and Thompson watersheds have been identified as the Missouri focus areas for 2023. 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 entities 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 January 13, 2023. Applicants can sign-up for the 2023 program year by contacting their local USDA-NRCS Field Service Center.