The Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) is a partner-driven approach to conservation that funds solutions to natural resource challenges on agricultural land.
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Upper Saluda Stream Restoration and Source Water Protection Program Approved for Implementation
Application Deadline: January 10, 2025
Columbia, S.C. – Nov. 20, 2024 – The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is pleased to announce the initiation of the Upper Saluda Stream Restoration and Source Water Protection Program under the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). The project, led by Resource Institute, Inc., focuses on restoring streambanks, enhancing aquatic habitats, and improving water quality in the Upper Saluda Watershed.
The project aims to stabilize streambanks to reduce sedimentation, restore natural stream patterns, and enhance riparian buffers in the watershed that serves Saluda Lake, a critical water source for Easley and surrounding communities. The comprehensive approach includes implementing conservation practices such as stream habitat improvement, riparian forest buffers, and critical area planting.
Key partners in the project include Easley Combined Utilities, Save Our Saluda, Greenville Soil and Water Conservation District, and Pickens Soil and Water Conservation District, who will collaborate to deliver targeted conservation benefits.
The project is supported by a combination of NRCS funding and partner contributions, with a total budget of over $3 million allocated for financial and technical assistance. Resource Institute will coordinate the project’s implementation, leveraging the expertise of local partners to achieve conservation outcomes that benefit both the environment and the local community.
For more information on the Upper Saluda Stream Restoration and Source Water Protection Program, please contact Alan Walker at the Resource Institute Inc. at awalker@resourceinstituteinc.org.
About NRCS
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service helps America’s farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners make investments in their operations while improving their natural resources. NRCS programs are voluntary and provide financial and technical assistance to help agricultural producers address resource concerns.
Contacts:
• Pedro Cruz-Carballo, RCPP Coordinator, pedro.cruzcarballo@usda.gov
• Reginald Hall, ASTC-Programs, reginald.hall@usda.gov
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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.