NRCS RCPP Project Opportunity for Alternative Funding Arrangements
The NRCS has announced that up to $50 million is being made available for up to 15 Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) Alternative Funding Arrangement (AFA) projects for FY 2020. The RCPP leverages funding from project partners for innovative solutions and benefits to on-farm, watershed, and regional natural resource concerns by addressing resource objectives in a State/multistate area or resource concerns within an NRCS-designated critical conservation area (CCA).
The AFA is a pilot program of the RCPP that is more like a grant where funding can go to other entities in addition to landowners, but with additional administrative and technical assistance responsibilities. While the AFA projects share the overarching focus of RCPP, the types of projects that can be implemented through the AFA versus the regular RCPP include those that:
- Use innovative approaches to leverage the Federal investment in conservation
- Deploy a pay-for-performance conservation approach
- Seek large-scale infrastructure investments that generate conservation benefits for agricultural producers and nonindustrial private forest owners.
Interested and eligible applicants are advised to request a meeting with the appropriate NRCS State RCPP coordinator and begin the process to obtain a level 2 eAuthentication permission to be able to access the project submission portal as soon as possible. Applications will be accepted from all 50 States and the territories through May 17, 2020. For more information and to apply, visit the RCPP website, and read the FY 2020 AFA National Funding Announcement.
