Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, right, announces that 115 projects across all 50 states will receive more than $370 million in federal funding as part of the new USDA Regional Conservation Partnership Program. At left is Patrick Graham, state director of The Nature Conservancy in Arizona, where the announcement was made on Wednesday. (National Resources Conservation Service)

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday announced that 115 projects across all 50 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico will receive more than $370 million in federal funding as part of the new USDA Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), which was created in the farm bill.

Vilsack made the announcement in Phoenix, Ariz., where the new program will invest in a project with five local partners to clean and conserve water along the Verde River, a tributary of the Colorado River.

The Arizona project will help restore habitat for fish and wildlife along the Verde River and encourage more sustainable use of water in the area. The Nature Conservancy will work with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and Friends of Verde River Greenway, Verde Natural Resource Conservation District, Arizona Game and Fish Department and Tamarisk Coalition to enhance 6,000 acres of riparian habitat and improve irrigation on 1,000 farmland acres, USDA said.

USDA released a list of all the projects. See link.

Partner groups will contribute $400 million more to the projects, Vilsack said.

“This is an entirely new approach to conservation efforts,” Vilsack said in a news release.

“These partnerships empower communities to set priorities and lead the way on conservation efforts important for their region,” Vilsack said. “They also encourage private sector investment so we can make an impact that's well beyond what the federal government could accomplish on its own. We're giving private companies, local communities, and other non-government partners a way to invest in a new era in conservation that ultimately benefits us all.”

“As venture capitalists provide financial resources to burgeoning, high-potential growth startups, USDA must lead in a new venture conservationist movement that empowers and launches new, high-opportunity startup partnerships that deliver locally-led conservation solutions,” said NRCS Chief Jason Weller.

“RCPP puts our partners in the driver's seat,” Weller said. “Projects are led locally, and demonstrate the value of strong public-private partnerships that deliver solutions to natural resource challenges.”

USDA received more than 600 applications for the projects, NRCS said. The farm bill provided $1.2 billion in funding over five years, and USDA can leverage an additional $1.2 billion from partners for a total of $2.4 billion for conservation, NRCS added.

“Projects not selected in this first year may be eligible in subsequent years," Weller said. He also noted that NRCS personnel will work with applicants who did not receive funding during this round of awards to strengthen their applications for future funding rounds.

The next announcement of program funding for fiscal year 2016 will be made later in the year. Wednesday’s announcement includes funding allocated for the first two years of the program.

Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who chaired the committee when the farm bill was written, said in a news release, “Today’s announcement is truly unprecedented and paves the way for innovative conservation projects. Businesses, farmers, non-profits and conservation leaders have a tremendous desire to protect water quality, preserve wildlife habitats, and keep soil healthy. The work accomplished through these public-private partnerships will have a lasting impact on our land, water and air.”

More than 200 conservation districts from across the nation will implement the projects, the National Association of Conservation Districts noted.

“Locally led partnerships are what conservation districts are all about,” said NACD President Earl Garber. “Districts have a strong history of engaging with a variety of stakeholders at the local level to enact meaningful conservation on the landscape.”

Craig Cox, the Environmental Working senior vice president of agriculture and natural resources, said “The RCPP is an important first step to modernize the way USDA deploys its conservation programs.”

“Focusing program dollars on individual projects designed to get landowners working together is a much better way to make progress on the serious environmental problems confronting agriculture,” Cox said.

“This is a much wiser use of taxpayer dollars to promote conservation and a break from the government’s failure to effective target conservation funding. We hope this smarter and collaborative approach serves as a model for all government conservation programs.”

▪ USDA — Regional Conservation Partnership Program
▪ — National, Critical Conservation Area, and State Project Summaries
▪ — FY 2014-2015 Regional Conservation Partnership Program Project Slate by Funding Pool