USDA, Partners to Invest $720 Million in Large-Scale, Targeted Conservation Projects Across the Nation
Natural Resources Conservation Service For more information, contact
100 W. Capitol Street, Suite 1321 Jackson, MS 39269
Kavanaugh Breazeale
601.965.5205. Ext 134
robert.k.breazeale@ms.usda.gov
Regional Conservation Partnership Program Pools Together $220 Million Investment from USDA, up to $500
Million from Local Partners to Improve Water Quality, Soil Health, Habitat and More
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Jackson, Feb. 12, 2016 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) and partners across the nation together will direct up to $720 million towards 84
conservation projects that will help communities improve water quality, combat drought, enhance soil health,
support wildlife habitat and protect agricultural viability. These projects make up the second round of the
Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) created by the 2014 Farm Bill.
Through the 2015 and 2016 rounds, USDA and partners are investing up to $1.5 billion in 199 strategic
conservation projects. Projects are selected on a competitive basis, and local private partners must be able to at
least match the USDA commitment. For this round, USDA received 265 applications requesting nearly $900
million, or four times the amount of available federal funding. The 84 projects selected for 2016 include
proposed partner matches totaling over $500 million, more than tripling the federal investment alone.
“The Regional Conservation Partnership Program puts local partners in the driver’s seat to accomplish
environmental goals that are most meaningful to that community. Joining together public and private resources
also harnesses innovation that neither sector could implement alone,” Vilsack said. “We have seen record
enrollment of privately owned lands in USDA’s conservation programs under this Administration, and the new
Regional Conservation Partnership Program will be instrumental in building on those numbers and
demonstrating that government and private entities can work together for greater impacts on America’s
communities.”
RCPP draws on local knowledge and networks to fuel conservation projects. Bringing together a wide variety of
new partners including businesses, universities, non-profits and local and Tribal governments makes it possible
to deliver innovative, landscape- and watershed-scale projects that improve water quality and quantity, wildlife
habitat, soil health and other natural resource concerns on working farms, ranches and forests.
Four of these projects will bring conservation to Mississippi.
Mississippi Grazing Land Management
North Mississippi Kudzu Project
RCPP Skuna River Watershed Project
Southern Sentinel Landscapes Conservation
“We put out a call for innovative and results-focused projects that will deliver the most conservation impact,”
said Kurt Readus, NRCS state conservationist in Mississippi. “Our partners answered with creative, locally-led
approaches to help producers support their ongoing business operations and address natural resource challenges
in their communities, here in Mississippi, and across the nation.”
Water quality and drought are dominant themes in this year’s RCPP project list with 45 of the 84 projects
focusing on water resource concerns.
USDA is committed to invest $1.2 billion in RCPP partnerships over the life of the 2014 Farm Bill. Today’s
announcement brings the current USDA commitment to almost $600 million invested in 199 partner-led
projects, leveraging an additional $900 million for conservation activities in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
USDA invested $370 million in 115 high impact RCPP projects during 2015. In New Mexico, a RCPP project
with the Interstate Stream Commission and an acequia—a local communal irrigation system—has addressed
long-standing infrastructure failures to significantly reduce water needs by improving irrigation efficiency. In
Oregon, removal of encroaching juniper was part of the West-wide private lands conservation effort that helped
obviate the need to list the Greater sage-grouse on the endangered species list.
Since 2009, USDA has invested more than $29 billion to help producers make conservation
improvements, working with as many as 500,000 farmers, ranchers and landowners to protect over 400
million acres nationwide, boosting soil and air quality, cleaning and conserving water and enhancing
wildlife habitat. For an interactive look at USDA's work in conservation and forestry over the course of
this Administration, visit http://medium.com/usda-results