NRCS is offering the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) – RCPP Alternative Funding Arrangements (AFA) grant to promote innovative conservation solutions for natural resource concerns.

The Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) promotes coordination of NRCS conservation activities with partners that offer value-added contributions that expand our collective ability to address on-farm, watershed, and regional natural resource concerns. NRCS seeks to coinvest with RCPP 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.

Through RCPP, partners propose projects—using guidance contained in this notice—that generate conservation benefits by addressing specific natural resource objectives in a state/multistate area or address one or more primary resource concerns within a critical conservation area (CCA) for the benefit of eligible agricultural producers and landowners. NRCS and partners design, implement and evaluate RCPP projects on agricultural and non-industrial private forest land. NRCS coinvests in RCPP projects selected through a competitive application process that evaluates applications based on four criteria: impact, partner contributions, innovation, and partnerships and management.

The RCPP AFA component is intended to support project structures and approaches that cannot be carried out as effectively through RCPP Classic. RCPP AFA applicants must describe the innovative nature of the conservation approach they are proposing to justify potential funding through an RCPP AFA rather than RCPP Classic. Additionally, applicants should consider the additional administrative and technical assistance responsibilities that accompany receipt of an RCPP AFA award.

The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) amendments to RCPP provides examples of project types that might be implemented through RCPP AFA:

Projects that use innovative approaches to leverage the Federal investment in conservation;

• Projects that deploy a pay-for-performance conservation approach;

• Projects that seek large-scale infrastructure investments that generate conservation benefits for agricultural producers and nonindustrial private forest owners.

Although RCPP AFA provides flexibilities to partners, these projects share the overarching focus of RCPP — engaging with producers and landowners to implement conservation practices, systems and approaches on or for the benefit of agricultural and nonindustrial private forest lands.

This notice announces the availability of funding for up to 15 RCPP AFA projects in FY 2022. Applications are accepted from all 50 States, the Caribbean Area (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands), and U.S. territories in the Pacific Island Areas (Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands).

SUBMISSIONS: Applications must be submitted through the Programs Portal.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Applicants are encouraged to contact the appropriate State RCPP Coordinator(s) with questions. A list of State RCPP coordinators, as of the date of this announcement’s posting, is on the RCPP website: RCPP – How to Apply | NRCS (usda.gov). Applicants can also email the RCPP inbox—rcpp@usda.gov–with questions about the announcement. The national RCPP website is also a great source of current information about the program.

Interested applicants are encouraged to participate in a webinar with general information about the Classic and AFA funding announcements. The webinar is scheduled for January 20, 2022 from 3-4:30 p.m. Eastern. Instructions for participating in the webinar are below:

The conference begins at 3:00 PM Eastern Time on January 20, 2022; you may join the conference 10 minutes prior.

To join the conference, click: https://ems8.intellor.com/login/842136 Join the Zoom event and follow the prompts to connect audio by computer or telephone.

Need to join via phone only? 888-251-2949 or 215-861-0694 – Need an international number? Access Code: 2626600# .

Zoom Support: 800-345-0857