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Four Illinois projects will receive $42.7 million in funding.
RCPP leverages a voluntary approach to conservation that expands
the reach of conservation efforts and climate-smart agriculture
through public-private partnerships. Historic funding is made
possible by both the Inflation Reduction Act, part of President
Biden’s Investing in America agenda, and the Farm Bill.
“The unprecedented demand for the Regional Conservation
Partnership Program shows how much interest there is from
producers and partners for voluntary conservation on the
ground,” said Tammy Willis, State Conservationist in Illinois
for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). “USDA
is making historic investments and streamlining the program to
make it work better for producers and partners. The combination
of historic investments and streamlining actions will deliver
conservation at a scale never achieved through RCPP.”
RCPP Improvements
NRCS has identified ways to streamline and simplify RCPP, ease
the burden on employees and partners, and help maximize
flexibility for partners to leverage their investments with NRCS
resources and capabilities.
Through a concerted effort over the past eight months-using
guidance, feedback, and expertise from partners, employees,
leadership, and stakeholders-NRCS has identified several
improvements that the agency will implement in the months and
years ahead.
Improvements include:
• Streamlining RCPP agreements for fiscal year 2023 awards and
moving to one programmatic agreement to begin implementing the
RCPP projects awarded under the fiscal year 2024 notice of
funding opportunity. This will allow partners to begin quicker
implementation of their RCPP projects.
• Entrusting program management and negotiation to the State
Conservationists, who lead NRCS programs in each state. This
further encourages the locally led process and ensuring the
necessary technical needs and costs were realized before project
proposal submission.
• Establishing parameters and expectations for easement
negotiations, including availability of easement deed templates
and established program processes to reduce partnership
agreement negotiation and implementation timeframes.
• Improving RCPP guidance and training, ensuring RCPP policies
and procedures are communicated in a uniform and consistent
manner.
• Enhancing existing business tools to improve the user
experience while beginning development of new business tools
that, through integration and automation, will reduce the time
required for agreement negotiation, processing obligations, and
making payments to partners.
For the full list of RCPP improvements Illinois NRCS has
identified for future implementation, visit our website at
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs-
initiatives/rcpp-regional-conservation-
partnership-program/illinois/illinois-rcpp-
projects.
Once improvements have been implemented, NRCS estimated that the
negotiation time of RCPP agreements with U.S.-held easement
activities will be reduced from 15 months to three months, and
from 19 months to three months with entity-held easement
activities.
The RCPP improvements are coming at a critical time, as they
will strengthen NRCS’ ability to implement the Inflation
Reduction Act, which provided $4.95 billion in additional
funding for the program over five years.
Unprecedented RCPP Funding
In Illinois, project(s) include:
Advancing Farmer-Led Incentives in the Midwest- The lead
partner is Sand County Foundation, and will cover certain
watersheds in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin.
Metro Chicago RCPP; Expanding Land Access and Grower
Resources and a Reginal Food System- The lead partner is The
Conservation Fund, and will cover the Counties in northeastern
Illinois.
Illinois Sand Prairie Wetlands Program- The lead partner
is the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and will cover
certain counties and west central Illinois.
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Infield Conservation for Operationalizing Vital Ecosystem
Resilience (I-COVER)- The lead partner is Illinois
Department of Bureau of Land and Water Resources, and will cover
the State of Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana.
The Farm Bill and Inflation Reduction Act provided funding for
this year’s RCPP projects.
With this $1.1 billion investment, NRCS has more than doubled
the initial allocation for 2023 to capitalize on the
unprecedented demand for RCPP and ensure project partners have
the maximum amount of time to successfully implement
conservation activities before funds expire in fiscal year 2031.
Nationwide, there are:
• 77 climate-focused projects ($1.02 billion in funding).
• Twenty-two projects focused on water quantity and conservation
(more than $338 million in funding).
• Three RCPP Classic projects are led by Tribes (more than $58
million in funding).
• Sixteen projects support the protection and restoration of
wildlife corridors ($216 million in funding).
• Ten projects focus on urban agriculture ($123 million in
funding).
Since inception, RCPP has made 717 awards involving over 4,000
partner organizations.
Inflation Reduction Act Boosts Voluntary Conservation
Programs
Through the Inflation Reduction Act, USDA has enrolled more
farmers and more acres in voluntary conservation programs than
at any point in history, following a backlog that has existed
for years. In 2023, USDA enrolled nearly 5,300 additional
producers in conservation programs across all 50 states (above
what otherwise would have been possible through Farm Bill and
appropriations funding), which will provide significant climate
mitigation benefits.
This includes:
• $100 million through the Agricultural Conservation Easement
Program (ACEP)
• $250 million through the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)
• $250 million through the Environmental Quality Incentives
Program (EQIP)
More Information
In total, the Inflation Reduction Act provides $19.5 billion
over five years to support USDA’s oversubscribed conservation
programs, and it represents the single largest investment in
climate and clean energy solutions in American history.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many
positive ways. In the Biden-Harris administration, USDA is
transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more
resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for
all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious
food in all communities, building new markets and streams of
income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and
forestry practices, making historic investments in
infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America,
and committing to equity across the Department by removing
systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative
of America. To learn more, visit
www.nrcs.usda.gov/il.
[Aaron Patrick
Public Affairs Specialist
USDA NRCS Illinois] |
