Projects funded in Alaska through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP).
Producer Contract Application Deadlines
Fiscal Year 2025 RCPP LMR application ranking deadlines: Starting November 7, 2024, eligible and ranked applications will be evaluated for funding every second and fourth Friday of the month with the last funding evaluation on May 8, 2025.
Application received by close of business on March 14, 2025, and are eligible and ranked by April 24, 2025, will be considered for funding.
Fiscal Year 2025 RCPP Easement application deadlines: Batch 1: October 4, 2024 and Batch 2: December 20, 2024
Active Projects
Restoring Fish Habitat in the Copper River Watershed
Status: Active
Proposed NRCS Investment: $3.8 million
Proposed Partner Investment: $4.2 million
Lead Partner: Copper River Watershed Project
Year Awarded: FY21
Funding Pool: State
Number of Partners: 13
Participating State: Alaska
The Copper River Watershed Project will restore access to an estimated 187.5 miles of streams and 527 acres of lake habitat to sockeye, chinook and coho salmon, providing significant benefits to subsistence, sport and commercial fisheries.
In addition to benefiting salmon habitat, the project will also reduce the likelihood of severe property damage during extreme flood events, making the watershed more flood resilient and improving the structural integrity of roads and infrastructure.
The work primarily involves removing undersized culverts and replacing them with stream-smart culverts that allow fish and other aquatic species to safely pass; and planting trees and shrubs along streambanks to reduce erosion, enhance biodiversity and improve aquatic habitat.
Tanana River Watershed Partnership
Status: Active
Proposed NRCS Investment: $1.3 million
Proposed Partner Investment: $1.3 million
Lead Partner: The Conservation Fund
Year Awarded: FY20
Funding Pool: State
Number of Partners: 3
Participating State: Alaska
The Conservation Fund is partnering with the U.S. Air Force to protect critical wetland sites adjacent to Eielson Air Force Base through conservation easements. These easements are intended to 1) limit impacts to soil and water quality and quantity from forecasted military and urban expansion, 2) support state-wide and local food security, and 3) establish reliable funding for long-term resource conservation.
Hoonah Native Forest Lands Partnership
Status: Active
Year Awarded: Renewed in FY20
Proposed NRCS Investment: $1.8 million
Proposed Partner Investment: $1.8 million
Lead Partner: Sealaska Corporation
Year of Original Award: FY14
Proposed NRCS Investment: $2.3 million
Proposed Partner Investment: $540,000
Funding Pool: State
Number of Partners: 6
Participating State: Alaska
The Hoonah Native Forest Partnership blends highly inclusive collaboration, state of the art land management tools and an innovative, watershed-scale planning approach for balancing economic, social and ecological outcomes, including improved resource conditions for both national NRCS priorities (water quality) and State of Alaska priorities (stream and wildlife habitat).
RCPP-Land Management Applications are currently being accepted for this project. Click on the Plan and Process pdf below for information regarding HNFP and RCPP-LMR in FY25.
Success Story: Hoonah Native Forest Partnership
Complete Projects
Keex' Kwaan' Community Forest Partnership
Status: Complete
Proposed NRCS Investment: $2.07 million
Proposed Partner Investment: $225,000
Lead Partner: Sealaska Corporation
Year Awarded: FY18
Funding Pool: State
Number of Partners: 6
Participating States: Alaska
The Keex' Kwaan' Community Forest Partnership (KKCFP) blends collaboration, state of the art land management tools and an innovative, watershed-scale planning approach for balancing economic, social and ecological outcomes. The natural resource concerns of the KKCFP include economic, ecological and social values: (1) economic concerns are associated with the high costs of energy and the potential for timber and non-timber forest products to provide revenue to a historically impoverished and underserved community; (2) ecological concerns relate to the quantity and quality of fish and wildlife habitat and overall ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change; and, (3) social concerns stem from the reduction of access to lands for clean water and traditional and cultural practices such as wild food, medicinal plant and firewood gathering.
Copper Basin Subsistence Landscape Resiliency
Status: Complete
Proposed NRCS Investment: $1.7 million
Proposed Partner Investment: $597,000
Lead Partner: Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission, CRITR
Year Awarded: FY18
Funding Pool: National
Number of Partners: 11
Participating States: Alaska
The Ahtna people have lived, subsisted and been stewards of the Copper River drainage for 1000s of years and are concerned that the landscape remain resilient, and subsistence populations are sustainable. The overarching issue is maintaining ecosystem resiliency and subsistence sustainability in a fire climax ecosystem out of balance due to fire suppression and projected climate change. Specific resource concerns are to protect and enhance subsistence species habitats (moose and caribou), protect water quality for salmon, enhance resource access, reduce village energy costs, enhance subsistence berry production and habitat for native pollinators. Eight tribes will support the project through input of their traditional ecological knowledge and wisdom, which is being captured through a Tribal Resource Stewardship program with University of Alaska and participation of elders in the outreach program. Each tribe is developing a village-based stewardship plan around their villages for subsistence resource management that will be integrated with this project. The RCPP will implement the integrated plans developed with each village.
Implementing Education, Outreach, and Conservation Practices on Tribal Land for Socially Disadvantaged Producers and Alaska Tribal Conservation Districts
Status: Complete
Proposed NRCS Investment: $1.6 million
Proposed Partner Investment: $1.8 million
Lead Partner: Tyonek Tribal Conservation District
Year Awarded: FY14
Funding Pool: National
Number of Partners: 6
Participating State: Alaska
Tyonek Tribal Conservation District (TTCD) is facilitating an innovative, collaborated effort to complete planning, monitoring, and implementation of conservation practices, education, and outreach for Alaska Native Villages (ANV) with an Alaska Tribal Conservation District (ATCD). The proposed project connects partners for the benefit of enhancing, preserving, and restoring habitat used for subsistence resources in the effort to preserve customs and traditions of Alaska Native (AN) people, thus achieving food security. Activities in the proposed project provide education, and outreach to ATCDs, complete planning, coordination, implementation, and monitoring of conservation practices benefiting wildlife and soil natural resource concerns NRCS priorities (water quality) and State of Alaska priorities (stream and wildlife habitat).
