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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) Application for Project Funding (APF) yesterday soliciting proposals from eligible entities, including municipal clean water agencies, to enter into partnerships with local farmers on conservation and water quality activities. NACWA will host a conference call with RCPP representatives on June 4th at 3:00 pm EST to review the APF and answer your questions. Conference call details will follow. 

The 2014 Farm Bill established the RCPP, which is designed to support partnerships between farmers and non-farming entities to tackle various conservation and environmental issues on a regional scale. The RCPP provides an excellent opportunity for interested utilities to implement innovative nutrient management solutions with agricultural non-point sources to improve local water quality.

In fact, the RCPP has the potential of ushering in a new era of private lands conservation by enabling non-federal partners to help private landowners achieve better conservation outcomes by leveraging federal capital. Though the RCPP application requirements are extensive, municipal water or wastewater authorities located in areas of significant water quality impairment due primarily to agricultural impacts are encouraged to consider whether the RCPP approach to tackling these challenges would work for them. There are three pools of money detailed below (National, State, and Critical Conservation Areas) that may uniquely apply to an agency’s site-specific interests).

NACWA has been a proponent of encouraging the movement toward watershed-based solutions for addressing clean water challenges for years and successful RCPP projects can help further these approaches. This Advocacy Alert provides NACWA members with an overview of the APF.

Overview of RCPP Application for Project Funding

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the USDA will oversee the implementation of this program and administration of funds.

Key Dates *

*Applications accepted during the pre-proposal stage will be invited to submit a full proposal. If a pre-proposal application is not accepted, applicants will not be invited to submit a full proposal.

Funding Availability

The total RCPP financial assistance (FA) for FY 2014/2015 is approximately $400 million and will be allocated across the following three competitive funding pools:

1. National: approximately $158 million (40%)
2. State: approximately $99 million (25%)
3. Critical Conservation Areas (CCA): approximately $138 million (35%)

Applicants can submit a proposal to only one funding pool. Applicants may submit more than one proposal as long as the proposals are for distinctly different projects.

A project proposal cannot exceed $20 million, cannot exceed 5 years, and the application must clearly request NRCS program funds for every year that the partner would like NRCS to fund the project within the timeframe of the proposed project.

RCPP projects will be delivered through the authorities and rules of the following “covered programs”*:

• Environmental Quality Incentives Program ($131,155,900)
• Conservation Stewardship Program ($12,600,000)
• Healthy Forests Reserve Program ($0)
• Agricultural Conservation Easement Program ($55,391,280); and,
• For Critical Conservation Areas only: Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act (TBD)

*The amounts noted are augmented by an additional $195,680,000 of funds provided directly to the RCPP program account.

Applicant partners submitting project proposals for the RCPP will need to identify which covered programs they intend to access for specific conservation activities they intend to deploy, however landowners enrolled in the project will individually apply for specific programs for actual deployment of specific conservation activities. Partners may be asked to facilitate the landowner application process for the “covered programs” to be used.
Program adjustments can be made to implementation requirements for the covered programs under certain circumstances outlined in the APF.

All covered program funds go to the landowner, not to the partnering organization with the exception of alternative funding arrangements for multi-state entities and, in certain circumstance, technical assistance.

Technical Assistance

Technical assistance (TA) may be available to help partners implement contracts and agreements with producers, landowners and eligible entities (except no administrative costs can be off-set with TA). TA funds can be provided to support the following:

• NRCS personnel in accepted project area
• A partner in accepted project area (either thru alternative funding arrangements or thru partnership agreements
• Combination of NRCS personnel and partners in project areas

Critical Conservation Areas (CCAs)

As the map below illustrates, eight regions have been identified by USDA as CCAs. CCAs are regions that will be targeted with additional resources to address specific resources of concern. The hyperlinks provide more detailed information on each CCA and what the resource concern priorities are for each area. Please note, water quality degradation—which includes excessive nutrients and pesticides in surface and groundwater—is considered a resource concern priority for all of the CCAs except for the Prairie Grasslands Region.

1. Chesapeake Bay Watershed 
2. Great Lakes Region
3. Mississippi River Basin
4. Colorado River Basin
5. Longleaf Pine Range
6. Columbia River Basin
7. Prairie Grasslands Region
8. California Bay Delta

Project Application Considerations

Proposals submitted to each funding pool should indicate which priority resource of concern the proposed project seeks to address.

• National Funding Pool: Priority resource of concerns include: water quality / water quantity / soil health / at-risk species habitat / air quality
• State Funding Pool: Project proposals should address at least one of the national priorities (above) or a State-identified priority. 
• Critical Conservation Areas: Project proposals should address the resource concern priorities listed for each CCA (see links). 

Significant Contributions

Partners will be asked to leverage the federal FA and TA with a “significant contribution” to the overall cost of the project which can include direct FA and TA to producers and other in-kind services such as outreach and education, monitoring, and administrative services. Partners may consider other Federal funds as part of this contribution as long as they can evidence a commitment of those funds and that those funds can be used in conjunction with NRCS funds. Priority will be given to partners that can significantly leverage non-Federal financial and technical assistance.

Application Process – two stages

There are two application stages: a pre-proposal stage (deadline is July 14) and a full proposal stage (deadline is September 26). Applications accepted during the pre-proposal stage will be invited to submit a full proposal. If a pre-proposal application is not accepted, applicants will not be invited to submit a full proposal.

1. Pre-proposal applications (due by July 14) should be no longer than 6 pages and include the following:
   1. Application Cover Letter that includes the following elements: 
      • Project Title
      • Project Director/Manager contact information
      • Name of Lead partner (and contact info) and other collaborating partners
      • Funding pool applying for (CCA, national, State)
      • Short summary of project 
      • Geographic area of focus
      • Proposed start and end dates (not to exceed a period of 5 years)
      • Estimate of funding request both FA and TA from covered programs by year
   2. Project Summary
      • Project objectives and resource of concern to be addressed
      • General description of plans for evaluating outcomes
      • Brief description of types of activities to be undertaken such as easements, wetland restoration, etc.
      • If applicable, how the project will help producers meet or avoid the need for regulatory requirements
      • A description of any requested program adjustments

Pre-proposal selections announcements for will be made on July 28.

2. Full-proposal application requirements (due by September 26): Full proposals are not to exceed 20 pages, single space, excluding letters of support, project performance evaluation plans, maps, forms and budget tables. There are four major components:

1. 1. Application cover (4 pages) – Executive Summary for Proposal with supporting budget information including requested amounts (both FA and TA) for each covered program to be accessed, project description, geographic area to be covered, partners involved, among other requirements
   2. Letter of Support from NRCS State Conservationist 
   3. Natural Resource Objectives and Actions (4 pages) – specific primary natural resource concern to be addressed; list of proposed objectives and how they will address identified resource of concern; and for each objective, identify actions to be completed. 
   4. Detailed application requirements (not to exceed 12 pages, not including forms, maps and tables) – this section is the meat of the proposal and will describe scope of project, likely outcomes, conservation activities, plans for reporting and evaluating progress, likely landowner participants, among other requirements. 

Application Submission and Review

Applications will be evaluated against four criteria, including:

1. Solutions (25%): Does the project plan create a partnership with the agricultural community to achieve attainable and measurable goals that are enduring and locally supported?
2. Contributions (30%): Does the partner bring substantial technical and financial capabilities to the project?
3. Innovation (20%): Does the project draw on all program authorities in an integrated way to ensure resource management solutions are achieved in the most cost-effective manner?
4. Participation (25%): Does the project bring a diverse array of stakeholders into a project and capitalize on their unique capabilities to make ta project successful?

RCPP project proposal selection announcements will be made on October 17, 2014.

RCPP: New Era in Private Landowner Conservation Management

Again, the RCPP has the potential of ushering in a new era of private lands conservation by enabling non-federal partners to help private landowners achieve better conservation outcomes in by leveraging federal capital. Thank you for your interest in the RCPP and please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if your utility is interested in pursuing a partnership and/or you have any questions about the APF. NACWA will continue to provide updates on the RCPP process as they emerge.