Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) is a competitive program that supports the development of new tools, approaches, practices, and technologies to further natural resource conservation on private lands.
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Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) is a competitive program that supports the development of new tools, approaches, practices, and technologies to further natural resource conservation on private lands.
Through creative problem solving and innovation, CIG partners work to address our nation's water quality, air quality, soil health and wildlife habitat challenges, all while improving agricultural operations.
Public and private grantees develop the tools, technologies, and strategies to support next-generation conservation efforts on working lands and develop market-based solutions to resource challenges. All national and state announcements are posted through www.grants.gov as budget allows. South Dakota opportunities will be posted and can be located through a key word search “NRCS SD.”
Conservation Innovation Grants | Natural Resources Conservation Service
More Information
Fact sheets, webinars, reports and success stories can be found at:
CIG Webinar Series
NRCS has established a webinar series to allow NRCS employees, partner conservationists, and other interested stakeholders to hear directly from CIG grantees. A new webinar is scheduled each quarter and generally covers a single topic area and multiple CIG projects. The goal of the webinar series is to showcase CIG results and provide insights directly from program grantees.
Past webinars can be accessed at the following link: https://conservationwebinars.net/
Click “On-Demand Webinars” and search for the title you would like to view.
CIG webinars have covered water quality, environmental markets and conservation finance, air quality and water management.
If you have any issues accessing these webinars, please email NRCSCIG@usda.gov.
Get Updates to Your Inbox
Get regular updates about CIG and other NRCS conservation programs right to your inbox, including new funding announcements. Click here to sign-up and select the “Conservation Programs” distribution list.
Program Contact
State Program Manager: Colette Kessler, CIG Program Manager, USDA NRCS South Dakota, 200 Fourth Street SW, Huron, SD 57350 Phone: 605-352-1200 | Email: colette.kessler@usda.gov
Ready to get started?
Contact your local service center to start your application.
How to Get Assistance
Do you farm or ranch and want to make improvements to the land that you own or lease?
Natural Resources Conservation Service offers technical and financial assistance to help farmers, ranchers and forest landowners.
To get started with NRCS, we recommend you stop by your local NRCS field office. We’ll discuss your vision for your land.
NRCS provides landowners with free technical assistance, or advice, for their land. Common technical assistance includes: resource assessment, practice design and resource monitoring. Your conservation planner will help you determine if financial assistance is right for you.
We’ll walk you through the application process. To get started on applying for financial assistance, we’ll work with you:
- To fill out an AD 1026, which ensures a conservation plan is in place before lands with highly erodible soils are farmed. It also ensures that identified wetland areas are protected.
- To meet other eligibility certifications.
Once complete, we’ll work with you on the application, or CPA 1200.
Applications for most programs are accepted on a continuous basis, but they’re considered for funding in different ranking periods. Be sure to ask your local NRCS district conservationist about the deadline for the ranking period to ensure you turn in your application in time.
As part of the application process, we’ll check to see if you are eligible. To do this, you’ll need to bring:
- An official tax ID (Social Security number or an employer ID)
- A property deed or lease agreement to show you have control of the property; and
- A farm number.
If you don’t have a farm number, you can get one from USDA’s Farm Service Agency. Typically, the local FSA office is located in the same building as the local NRCS office. You only need a farm number if you’re interested in financial assistance.
NRCS will take a look at the applications and rank them according to local resource concerns, the amount of conservation benefits the work will provide and the needs of applicants. View Application Ranking Dates by State.
If you’re selected, you can choose whether to sign the contract for the work to be done.
Once you sign the contract, you’ll be provided standards and specifications for completing the practice or practices, and then you will have a specified amount of time to implement. Once the work is implemented and inspected, you’ll be paid the rate of compensation for the work if it meets NRCS standards and specifications.