Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) is a partner-driven program that leverages partner resources to advance innovative projects that address climate change, enhance water quality, and address other critical challenges on agricultural land.
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Illinois RCPP Projects:
- Working Lands, Water and Wildlife Partnership - The Conservation Fund
- Lake Springfield Source Water Protection Project - City, Water, Light and Power (CWLP)
- Precision Conservation Management - Illinois Corn Growers Association
- Southern Illinois Oak Ecosystem Restoration - Shawnee Resource Conservation Development, Inc.
- Kinkaid Watershed Restoration Project - Kinkaid-Reed's Creek Conservancy District
Working Lands, Water and Wildlife Partnership
Project Description:
The RCPP project will utilize conservation practices, land rental payments and conservation easements to address impaired water quality, inadequate wildlife habitat, and farmland conversion. The partnership provides producers an opportunity to adopt conservation practices for water quality and wildlife habitat benefits. Land rental payments are available for lost income resulting from transition to organic grains and integration of perennial tree crops. Moreover, easements will be used to preserve prime farmland and prevent the permanent loss of valuable farmland.
Application Deadlines: To be announced
NRCS accepts applications for its conservation programs year-round and funding is provided through a competitive process. Apply for RCPP by completing a NRCS-CPA-1200.
Project Duration: 5 years (2021-2026)
Applicable Counties:
Adams, Alexander, Boone, Cass, Champaign, Christian, Cook, Crawford, DeKalb, Ford, Franklin, Fulton, Iroquois, Jackson, Jefferson, Jo Daviess, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Lee, Madison, Mason, McHenry, McLean, Menard, Ogle, Peoria, Perry, Piatt, Sangamon, Tazewell, Vermilion, Will, Winnebago, and Woodford.
Contract Types:
- Land Management and Rental
-
Easement
Land Uses:
- Crop
- Forest
- Pasture
- Associated Agricultural Land
- Farmstead
- Other Rural Land
Resource Concerns:
- Aquatic Habitat
- Field Sediment, Nutrient, and Pathogen Loss
- Terrestrial Habitat
Lead Partner: The Conservation Fund
Lake Springfield Source Water Protection Project
Project Description:
This RCPP project is utilizing land management practices to reduce sediment and nutrient from entering Lake Springfield. Land management practices available to farmers in the watershed are Cover Crop, Nutrient Management, and Residue & Tillage Management (No-till) etc.
Application Deadline: To be announced
NRCS accepts applications for its conservation programs year-round and funding is provided through a competitive process. Apply for RCPP by completing a NRCS-CPA-1200.
Project Duration: 5 years (2021-2026)
Applicable Counties:
Portions of Macoupin, Morgan, and Sangamon.
Contract Types:
- Land Management
Land Uses:
- Crop
- Pasture
- Associated Agricultural Land
- Farmstead
- Other Rural Land
Resource Concerns:
- Aquatic Habitat
- Concentrated Erosion
- Field Sediment, Nutrient, and Pathogen Loss
- Wind and Water Erosion
Lead Partner: City, Water, Light and Power (CWLP)
Precision Conservation Management
Project Description:
Precision Conservation Management (PCM) objective is landscape scale adoption of a conservation practice using farmers as the real-world illustration of how voluntary adoption of practices affect farm profitability and, therefore, farm sustainability. The PCM RCPP project will utilize the land management practice of Cover Crop to understand how conservation practices impact farm financial net returns, address water quality concerns, prevent agricultural regulation, and position farmers to benefit from positive conservation outcomes.
Application Deadline: To be announced
NRCS accepts applications for its conservation programs year-round and funding is provided through a competitive process. Apply for RCPP by completing a NRCS-CPA-1200.
Project Duration: 5 years (2021-2026)
Applicable Counties:
Champaign, Christian, Clinton, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Ford, Livingston, Macon, Macoupin, Madison, McLean, Monroe, Piatt, Sangamon, St. Clair, Tazewell, Vermilion, Washington, and Woodford.
Also, some counties in Kentucky.
Contract Types:
- Land Management
Land Uses:
- Crop
Resource Concerns:
- Air Quality Emissions
- Field Sediment, Nutrient, and Pathogen Loss
- Source Water Depletion
- Wind and Water Erosion
- Weather Resilience
Lead Partner: Illinois Corn Growers Association
Southern Illinois Oak Ecosystem Restoration
Project Description:
This RCPP project is using land management practices to work on oak ecosystem restoration activities in the project area to stop the loss of oak trees and create large, ecologically significant blocks of healthy oak dominant forests. Land management practices available to forest landowners in the project area are Forest Stand Improvement, Brush management, Prescribed Burning, etc.
Application Deadline: To be announced
NRCS accepts applications for its conservation programs year-round and funding is provided through a competitive process. Apply for RCPP by completing a NRCS-CPA-1200.
Project Duration: 5 years (2021-2026)
Applicable Counties:
Alexander, Hardin, Johnson, Pope, and Union.
Contract Types:
- Land Management
Land Uses:
- Forest
Resource Concerns:
- Degraded Plant Condition
- Fire Management
- Terrestrial Habitat
Lead Partner: Shawnee Resource Conservation Development, Inc.
Kinkaid Watershed Restoration Project
Project Description:
This RCPP project is utilizing land management practices to reduce sediment from entering Kinkaid Lake. Land management practices available to farmers in the watershed are Cover Crop, Brush Management, Forest Stand Improvement, Prescribed Burning, Grassed Waterway, etc.
Application Deadline: To be announced
NRCS accepts applications for its conservation programs year-round and funding is provided through a competitive process. Apply for RCPP by completing a NRCS-CPA-1200.
Project Duration: 5 years (2021-2026)
Applicable County:
Jackson.
Contract Types:
- Land Management
Land Uses:
- Crop
- Forest
- Pasture
- Associated Agricultural Land
Resource Concerns:
- Concentrated Erosion
- Degraded Plant Condition
- Field Sediment, Nutrient and Pathogen Loss
- Source Water Depletion
- Wind and Water Erosion
Lead Partner: Kinkaid-Reed's Creek Conservancy District
Additional Information
Payment Schedules - Illinois
NRCS provides financial assistance for selected conservation practices. The availability and amount of financial assistance can vary between states. Download the Illinois payment schedules below to see which activities qualify, and how much financial assistance is available.
Learn MoreReady 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 tract number.
If you don’t have a farm tract 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 tract 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.
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.