Westside Pipeline and Blackwater Laterals

Lead Partner: Gila River Indian Community
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: CCA
CCA (if Applicable): Colorado River Basin
Lead State: AZ
Total Funding Request: $22,865,854.00
The Gila River Indian Community (Community), through the Westside Pipeline and Blackwater Laterals project will increase agriculture on-reservation while helping the community adapt to droughts made worse by the impacts of climate change. Combining $25M of RCPP funding with $80M of partner contributions, this project will construct at least 8.5 miles of pipeline to replace open channel canals and upgrading 7.61 miles of existing earthen ditches, to reduce water loss within the system. This investment will have the added benefit of protecting soil productivity while conserving scare water resources in a time of extraordinary drought and aridification in the Southwest.

Upper Verde River Watershed - Aquifer Protection and Resilient Grassland Conservation Strategy
Lead Partner: The Nature Conservancy

Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: CCA
CCA (if Applicable): Colorado River Basin
Lead State: AZ
Total Funding Request: $12,439,024.00
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) will address pressing water-related challenges, protect high-quality grassland habitat, and enhance wildlife connectivity in the Upper Verde River watershed of Arizona. This project will use RCPP funds to create a voluntary, incentive-based program that preserves the natural resources and agricultural uses of the focus area. The tool for achieving goals will be the strategic implementation of entity-held conservation easements, with a 5-year goal of the perpetual encumbrance of up to 20,000 acres of private lands in the Colorado River Basin Critical Conservation Area.

Colorado Northern Front Range RCPP

Lead Partner: Jefferson Conservation District
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: CO
Total Funding Request: $13,462,500.00
The Colorado Nothern Front Range Project will use land management contracts with producers to primarily improve aquatic and terrestrial habitat, reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire, and protect drinking and irrigation source water supply. Lead by the Jefferson Conservation District, this project in Colorado’s Northern Front Range; these mountainous watersheds are upstream of many cities, including Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins. In the project area ecosystems have been disturbed through hurricanes, floods, or wildlife through overgrazing, unsustainable logging, and fire suppression. The project plans to implement over 4,000 acres of forest treatments, 8,000 acres of noxious weed treatments, and 100 acres of riparian habitat restoration on non-industrial private forest land.

Managing Native Vegetation for Climate Mitigation through Grassland Bird Conservation in Georgia and Mississippi

Lead Partner: National Bobwhite and Grassland Initiative Foundation, Inc
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: GA
Total Funding Request: $25,000,000.00
The Managing Native Vegetation for Climate Mitigation project, led by the National Bobwhite and Grassland Initiative Foundation, will improve populations of northern bobwhite and a suite of grassland birds using NRCS Climate Smart practices to rebuild open pine communities, production edges, idle areas, and open spaces that have reverted to trees in GA and MS. The project will address multiple natural resource concerns including carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, water quality, and soil health.

Enhancing Hawaii’s Forests to Reduce Land-Based Sources of Pollution

Lead Partner: Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: HI
Total Funding Request: $5,178,702.00
The Enhancing Hawaii’s Forests to Reduce Land-Based Sources of Pollution project will work with producers to help restore and manage Hawaii's private forestland by installing forestry practices on non-industrial forest land. These forests provide habitat for most of the state’s endangered species – which total over 400 species and comprise a third of the nation’s listed species. The project includes restoration of high-elevation forests that have been fragmented by non-native hooved animals and fires will be particularly critical for the two-dozen listed forest bird species. Producers will implement practices such as Brush Management, Tree Establishment, Forest Stand Improvement, Herbaceous Weed Control, and Upland Wildlife Habitat Management. The Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife anticipates that this project will plant 75,000 trees and remove invasive weeds from 2,700 acres.

Ainapreneur Rural Farmer Conservation Collective

Lead Partner: Changemakers Community Economic Development Corporation
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: HI
Total Funding Request: $1,304,878.00
The goal of Hiiaka Function Project is to reverse climate change by growing healthy soil that captures and stores carbon. To achieve this goal, Hiiaka Function will utilize biochar to create healthy soil and store carbon. By the end of year one, Hiiaka Function will create a biochar-use educational program for Native Hawaiian organizations and farmers. By the end of year two, Hiiaka Function will create a trained biochar soil workforce to create, distribute and measure the effectiveness of biochar for Native Hawaiian organizations and farmers. At the end of five years, Hiiaka Function will distribute biochar to 20 Native Hawaiian organizations and farmers with degraded soil through NRCS financial assistance contracts.

Protect Rathbun Lake

Lead Partner: Rathbun Land and Water Alliance
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: IA
Total Funding Request: $8,712,954.00
The Protect Rathbun Lake project’s goal is to reduce the sediment and sediment-bound phosphorus loads that cause water quality impairments in Rathbun Lake. Specifically, the objectives are the reduction in annual sediment load to the lake by 66,590 tons and the reduction in annual phosphorus load to the lake by 65,250 pounds. The Rathbun Land and Water Alliance will leverage RCPP and partner funding to address resource concerns related to soil erosion, soil quality, livestock production, aquatic habitat, and greenhouse gases. The project goal and objectives will be achieved by completing the land management and land rental activities to be carried out during the initial five-year implementation period of the new Rathbun Lake Watershed Management and Source Water Protection Plan (2023). Rathbun Lake is the source of water for Rathbun Regional Water Association’s (RRWA) water treatment plants. RRWA is the largest rural water system in Iowa. Rathbun Lake also provides recreational opportunities for one million visitors annually, downstream flood damage reduction, and fish and wildlife habitat in the lake and on adjacent public land. The lake’s watershed covers 354,000 acres.

Scott County Iowa Working Lands for Resilient Communities

Lead Partner: Ducks Unlimited, Inc.
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: IA
Total Funding Request: $8,000,000.00
Ducks Unlimited, through the Scott County Iow Working Lands for Resilient Communities project will install Climate SMART conservation practices such as in field and edge of field wetland restoration to improve water availability (flood and drought), water quality, soil health, and wildlife habitat. A “batch and build” concept will be used to expedite installation of conservation practices that require engineering support (e.g., saturated buffers) benefitting multiple producer operations within Scott County, IA. Benchmark and post treatment data from Local monitoring stations will support models such as the Water Erosion Prediction Project and HydroGeoSphere to report peak flow and nutrient loss reduction and carbon sequestration outcomes.

Cover Crop and Water Quality Program

Lead Partner: GROWMARK Inc.
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: CCA
CCA (if Applicable): Mississippi River Basin
Lead State: IA
Total Funding Request: $4,573,171.00
The Cover Crop and Water Quality Program aims to remove cover crop implementation barriers faced by growers. Growmark Inc and other partners will source the seed, plant, manage and terminate the cover crops on behalf of busy producers. The project will use proprietary satellite imagery and analytics monitor the crops from planting to harvest and identify nitrogen deficiencies and other issues impacting cover crops implementation, as well as quantify carbon sequestration and nitrous oxide emissions reductions.

2023 Burnett Irrigation Ditch

Lead Partner: Butte Soil and Water Conservation District
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: ID
Total Funding Request: $3,658,537.00
The Butte Soil and Water Conservation District will address Irrigation efficiencies, surface/ground water source protection, and improving aquatic habitat. This will be accomplished by enclosing the 11 miles of open ditch to a closed pipeline system. The Burnett Irrigation Ditch project will reduce surface water shrink and evaporation within the canal, in turn reducing division rates which will increase flows in the Big Lost River which support a unique population of Mountain White Fish. Ground water source re-saved by delivering surface water efficiently will allow producers to shut supplemental ground water wells off saving aquifer levels. Secondary resource concerns will be achieved by reduced conveyance of weed seed source through an open ditch to downstream user’s properties, eliminating a source of noxious and invasive pest pressure. The system generates enough elevation fall from the natural topography that pumping horsepower can be reduced, possibly even eliminated. Excess power generated on the closed pipeline will reduce greenhouse gasses generated by these pumping locations.

2023 Blaine County Canal Company Pipeline

Lead Partner: Butte Soil and Water Conservation District
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: ID
Total Funding Request: $2,439,024.00
Currently an open canal system conveys water across private lands to places of use on private farmlands. The Blaine County Canal Company Pipeline, in collaboration with multiple partners: Trout Unlimited, NRCS, Butte SWCD, Butte County Road and Bridge, and Rocky Mountain Power. BCCC will convert this 61k ft of open canal into a closed pipeline. By reducing infiltration and evaporation, reduced diversion rates from the Little Lost River (LLR) will benefit aquatic organism and maintain aquatic habitat integrity in the LLR while improving water quality, while continuing to serve as a local example of the irrigation pipeline conservation practice and collaborative conservation planning and implementation.

Infield Conservation for Operationalizing Vital Ecosystem Resilience (I-COVER)

Lead Partner: Illinois Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Land and Water Resources
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: IL
Total Funding Request: $19,573,171.00
The Illinois Department of Agriculture, through the Infield Conservation for Operationalizing Vital Ecosystems Resilience (iCOVER) project, will help producers plant 1.5 million acres across the three states (IL, IA & IN). This will result in the sequestration of an estimated 4.5 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent, reduce N losses by 30% during the 5-year project. This project will create the iCOVER Corps in partnership with community colleges in each state to offer an in-field cover crop batch-and build-custom service to producers that will facilitate timely seeding and/or management of the practice.

Advancing Farmer-Led Incentives in the Midwest

Lead Partner: Sand County Foundation
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: IL
Total Funding Request: $13,841,756.00
The Advancing Farmer-Led Incentives in the Midwest project will apply soil health and continuous living cover practices through locally designed financial incentives to farmers led by local partners in three Midwestern states. This project prioritizes improving local water resources via improved soil health and on-farm nutrient retention toward reaching Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force goals. Nutrient loss and GHG reductions, and carbon sequestration outcomes will be modeled using COMET-Planner and partnership developed Project-based County-level Outcomes Calculator and Nutrient Tracking Tool.

Kentucky River Palisades Watershed Protection Project

Lead Partner: Bluegrass Land Conservancy, Inc.
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: CCA
CCA (if Applicable): Mississippi River Basin
Lead State: KY
Total Funding Request: $22,865,854.00
The Kentucky River Palisades Watershed Protection project will lead to the permanent protection of at least 18 miles of riparian corridor and 6,000 acres of contiguous land associated with the Kentucky River Palisades and Elkhorn Creek in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky. This will help protect the connectivity of this critical ecosystem. By requiring buffers along all waterways, this project will minimize the impacts of urban sprawl and climate change on plant and animal species migration.

Scaling the Adoption of Adaptive Nitrogen Management Using Low-Cost Cover Crop Imaging and Nitrogen Crediting Technology

Lead Partner: The Nature Conservancy
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: CCA
CCA (if Applicable): Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Lead State: MD
Total Funding Request: $21,723,626.00
The Nature Conservancy will work with producers to implement advanced nutrient management and multi-species cover crops in a region that already has high adoption of conservation tillage. These combined actions will improve water quality and provide climate change adaptation and mitigation. Cover crops combined with conservation tillage practices are particularly good for conserving and building soil health. The mid-Atlantic is expected to increase nitrogen loading in the Chesapeake Bay by 28%, which will complicate efforts to achieve the 2025 Bay Agreement and EPA mandated total maximum daily load. Therefore, adoption of conservation practices that simultaneously mitigate climate change and improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay is needed.

Connecting Small and Urban Farms in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. Urban Corridor with Conservation Resources

Lead Partner: Sustainable Chesapeake
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: CCA
CCA (if Applicable): Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Lead State: MD
Total Funding Request: $1,200,000.00
Sustainable Chesapeake’s project, Connecting Small and Urban Farms project, is aiming to protect natural resources and increase weather resiliency for urban farmers and the communities they serve in the Baltimore to Washington DC urban corridor, a densely populated region with a high concentration of socially disadvantaged communities with limited access to fresh food. Specific objectives with this project are to increase the number of urban farmers, especially historically underserved farmers, benefiting from NRCS programs and to connect participating farmers with partner financial resources.

Focused In-Stream Habitat (FISH)

Lead Partner: State of Maine, Department of Marine Resources
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: CCA
CCA (if Applicable): Northeast Forests and Waters
Lead State: ME
Total Funding Request: $5,981,860.00
The Focused In-Stream Habitat aims to substantially improve in-stream habitat (including habitat diversity, habitat cover, and sediment sorting) to create spawning and rearing habitat in a focused effort in the three salmon habitat recovery units in Maine. The primary watersheds for this project were chosen based on their documented lack of large wood or insufficient channel complexity, based on physical habitat surveys. to the project will implement a suite of NRCS practices, specifically focusing on large, complex in-stream habitat enhancement projects (i.e., engineered log jams and installations using rock and wood), that we expect to improve in-stream habitat and stream function.

Headwaters Restoration

Lead Partner: Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: ME
Total Funding Request: $2,439,024.00
The Penobscot Indian Nation and the US Fish and Wildlife Service have partnered for the Headwaters Restoration project which will improve fish and aquatic organism passage while restoring and enhancing instream habitat for Eastern brook trout in the mainstem and tributaries of the Kennebago River and in Alder Stream. This project’s goals include enhanced climate resilience, a more natural flow regime and sediment transport, and habitat connectivity and associated fish and wildlife benefits.

Methane Avoidance on Dairy Farms in Michigan Milk Producers Association Region

Lead Partner: Newtrient LLC
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: MI
Total Funding Request: $6,200,000.00
The Methane Avoidance on Dairy Farms in Michigan project aims to drive high-yielding outcomes from Midwest dairy producers by increasing the adoption of methane-emissions-reducing NRCS conservation practices focused on manure management and feed management. Newtrient LLC will leverage NRCS’s RCPP investment of $6.2million through the delivery of $2 million in partner cash and in-kind contributions. This project will creatively pair public and private funds to deliver economically viable conservation solutions to Midwest dairy producers by increasing producer-specific technical assistance and financial incentives.

Advancing Soil Health in Minnesota Agriculture

Lead Partner: Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: MN
Total Funding Request: $25,000,000.00
The Advancing Soil Health in Minnesota Agriculture project will provide financial assistance to producers for on-the-ground soil health management practices and systems. Through this project the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil resource will focus on near-channel erosion, which is the largest source of sediment to the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, and upland erosion on tilled fields, which is the second largest source of sediment. Outcomes are to This project will reduce pounds of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment that runoff into the watershed

Stewarding the Working Wild in MT, OR, and CO: Non-lethal Predator Risk Management on Agriculture Operations

Lead Partner: Heart of the Rockies Initiative
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: MT
Total Funding Request: $16,664,634.00
The Stewarding the Working Wild project will help producers address some of the many threats they currently face, including drought, soil degradation, invasive species, wildlife displacement, conversion pressure, and commodity market fluctuations. The Heart of the Rockies Initiative, and other contributing partners will provide a holistic approach to incentivize producers to implement solutions that benefit land, livestock, and wildlife. This project will support the biologically diverse working lands that produce food and fiber, sustaining both rural and urban communities; enhance ecosystem services including clean water, biodiversity, and carbon storage; and maintain connected lands that provide essential habitat and migratory corridors.

Blackfeet Irrigation Improvement

Lead Partner: Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: MT
Total Funding Request: $15,350,610.00
The Blackfeet Tribe and project partners will provide sprinkler irrigation as on farm/ranch improvements to address conservation priorities as established by the Blackfeet Agricultural Resource Management Plan. These conservation activities will be located on both Tribal and Bureau of Indian Affairs) irrigation projects and along rivers and streams in all six of the Blackfeet Nations watersheds. This allows the Blackfeet Water Department to put water rights onto the land and improve tribal farms and ranches in the process. It also provides tribal producers with the opportunity to improve their forage production for their livestock operations.

Lake Mattamuskeet to Pamlico Sound Water Quality and Resilience Improvement Project

Lead Partner: North Carolina Coastal Federation
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: NC
Total Funding Request: $16,866,666.00
The North Caroline Coastal Federation will use a collaboration of funds to implement an array of conservation practices across the Lake Mattamuskeet watershed. The Lake Mattamuskeet to Pamlico Sound Water Quality and Resilience Improvement project will enhance the water quality of both the lake and the surrounding estuary.

North Dakota and Minnesota Supply Chain Soil Health Partnership

Lead Partner: Red River Basin Commission
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: CCA
CCA (if Applicable): Prairie Grasslands Region
Lead State: ND
Total Funding Request: $20,000,000.00
The North Dakota/Minnesota Supply Chain Soil Health Partnership project will work with producers to increase adoption of climate-smart and soil health practices and systems in the northern Great Plains. Adoption of climate-smart ag/soil health practices, particularly no-till and cover crops, has generally lagged in the northern Great Plains when compared to other growing regions such as the Southeast and Midwest. The short growing season in the northern Great Plains can complicate adoption of cover crops. The partnership in this project recognizes the importance of including Historically Underserved producers in the project and intends to work with CCAs to ensure that outreach and education is carried out to their client producers who qualify as HU. As part of its ongoing programming, the Trusted Advisor Partnership will continue engagement with Tribes to explore how Tribal producers and communities could benefit from these activities.

Grazing Management and Non-Lethal Predator Risk Mitigation in NM and AZ

Lead Partner: Western Landowners Alliance
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: NM
Total Funding Request: $6,665,854.00
The Working Wild is defined by partners as landscapes in the West that provide a suite of ecosystem services, with an emphasis on food and fiber production and connected habitat for predators and native ungulates. The Western Landowners Alliance and partners have been collaborating to develop frameworks to support conservation planning on western ranches operating in large predator habitat. Partners are now poised to incorporate the lessons learned to facilitate technical and financial assistance delivery to communities in New Mexico and Arizona using land management authorities under RCPP, complementary with other federal and state resources. The goal of the project is to reduce the financial and social burden of recovering predator populations on livestock operations by increasing access to conservation activities relevant to rangeland livestock production.

Managing Native Vegetation for Climate Mitigation through Grassland Bird Conservation in Missouri and Ohio

Lead Partner: National Bobwhite and Grassland Initiative Foundation, Inc
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: CCA
CCA (if Applicable): Mississippi River Basin
Lead State: OH
Total Funding Request: $25,000,000.00
The Managing Native Vegetation for Climate Mitigation project will use NRCS Climate Smart practices to rebuild production edges, forage bases, idle areas, and open spaces that have reverted to trees in MO and OH. In doing so, the National Bobwhite and Glassland Initiative Foundation will help producers address multiple natural resource concerns including carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, water quality, and soil health.

South Dakota Grasslands Initiative

Lead Partner: Ducks Unlimited, Inc.
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: SD
Total Funding Request: $25,000,000.00
Through land rental and management contracts with producers the South Dakota Grasslands Initiative will aid in the transition from cropland to grassland. Ducks Unlimited and other project partners expect to restore 25,000 acres of grassland over five years in South Dakota. These activities will support the increase of soil carbon, reduce nitrogen loss, and sequester atmospheric carbon. The project will integrate spatial data with scientific modeling to translate acres of grassland restored into environmental outcomes such as carbon sequestered, flood water storage, increased migratory waterfowl biodiversity, reduced soil erosion and nitrogen and phosphorus runoff.

Hill Country Headwaters Conservation Initiative

Lead Partner: Hill Country Conservancy
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: CCA
CCA (if Applicable): Prairie Grasslands Region
Lead State: TX
Total Funding Request: $23,242,213.00
Hill Country Conservancy and its partners will address climate change and flood mitigation using RCPP funding for easements on agricultural lands to prevent conversion to non-agricultural uses and impervious surfaces. $25M in RCPP funding will be amplified by State, County and local funding allocated for easements, and landowner contributions of value. Parcels selected will based on ability to achieve maximum conservation benefits, using criteria related to regional flood planning, karst recharge, terrestrial habitat, carbon sequestration potential and climate resilience, while promoting climate-smart ag and support of HU producers. The project area includes portions of the Colorado, Guadalupe, Lampasas and San Gabriel River basins which lie within RCPP’s Prairie Grasslands critical conservation area.

Climate Smart Switchgrass Cropping System Transition

Lead Partner: FDC Enterprises, Inc.
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: VA
Total Funding Request: $6,927,202.00
to the Climate Smart Switchgrass Cropping System Transition will improve carbon sequestration, soil health, and reduce nutrient runoff, and farm income in southern Virginia by transitioning 5,000 acres of marginal row crop agriculture, expiring Conservation Reserve Program acres, and degraded cool season grass pastureland to a Climate Smart Switchgrass Cropping System. The project will engage historically underserved producers through network of partner organizations with a target of at least 51% HU producer enrollment of more than 2,500 acres.). Field level monitoring of soil carbon change and reduced nutrient runoff will be implemented to accurately measure Switchgrass planting and management outcomes.

Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program EL 84.7 Landowner Extension Mainline

Lead Partner: Grant County Conservation District
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: CCA
CCA (if Applicable): Western Waters
Lead State: WA
Total Funding Request: $19,666,600.00
This project will complete one of the nine lateral systems in the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program located in Central Washington. The finished EL 84.7 lateral will replace groundwater irrigation with Columbia River surface water for a total of 7,138 acres currently relying on rapidly declining groundwater wells, thereby helping to prevent source water depletion. Drilling deeper wells or converting to dryland crops are economic risks and won’t sequester as much carbon as irrigated production can through biomass accumulation. By reducing the extraction from deep groundwater wells, the aquifer can recharge naturally over time, maintaining its long-term viability. This benefits the local communities who rely on it for their drinking water supply by ensuring a stable and reliable water supply for future generations.

Upper Yakima River Water Supply and Fish Habitat Improvements

Lead Partner: Kittitas County Conservation District
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: CCA
CCA (if Applicable): Western Waters
Lead State: WA
Total Funding Request: $17,804,878.00
The Upper Yakima River Water Supply and Fish Habitat Improvements project will address critical needs for integrated conservation and restoration of watersheds in the Upper Yakima River of Central Washington. This supports the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan, a 30-year water resiliency plan to protect and enhance fish and natural resources, improve water availability and reliability, establish more efficient water markets, manage the variability of water supplies, and prepare for the uncertainties of climate change through operational and structural changes throughout the watershed. The Kittitas County Conservation District will k assist producers with on-farm and delivery irrigation practices and habitat practices to improve water use efficiency, water quality and fish habitat availability. This project will replace 6 irrigation diversion structures with fish friendly structures opening up 2 miles of habitat, install 3 acres of riparian habitat; realize over 1,000 acre/feet of annual water savings with 4 miles of piped/lined irrigation ditches and convert 1,600 acres of cropland to sprinkler irrigation.

Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program EL 80.6 Landowner Extension Mainline

Lead Partner: Grant County Conservation District
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: CCA
CCA (if Applicable): Western Waters
Lead State: WA
Total Funding Request: $13,100,000.00
This project is part of the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program located in the heart of the Columbia River Basin in Central Washington, with the goal to replace groundwater irrigation with Columbia River surface water for 5,222 acres of high-value irrigated farmland currently relying on the rapidly declining Odessa Subarea Aquifer, thereby helping to prevent source water depletion. Once constructed, this project would deliver Columbia Basin Project water from the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District’s canal to a total of 10 farms effectively removing 11 wells from pumping groundwater and conserving 15,888 acre-feet (5.1 billion gals) of water in the aquifer each year.

Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program EL 86.4 On-Farm Project

Lead Partner: Grant County Conservation District
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: CCA
CCA (if Applicable): Western Waters
Lead State: WA
Total Funding Request: $7,200,000.00
This project is part of the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program (OGWRP) located in the heart of the Columbia River Basin in Central Washington. The goal of the Grant County Conservation District’s project is to replace groundwater irrigation with Columbia River surface water for 5,426 acres of high-value irrigated farmland currently relying on the rapidly declining Odessa Subarea Aquifer, thereby helping to prevent source water depletion. Without more reliable surface water, farmers will continue to be impacted by declining groundwater levels. The goal is to conserve as much of the remaining aquifer as possible for the 25 communities that rely on it for their drinking water supply. This project will build upon funding through the Washington State Legislature to build the EL 86.4 mainline, utilizing RCPP to complete on-farm infrastructure.

Improving Soil Health in Potato Supply Chains

Lead Partner: McCain Foods
Project Type: AFA
Funding Pool: S/M
CCA (if Applicable): N/A
Lead State: WI
Total Funding Request: $6,934,496.00
McCain Foods, through the Improving Soil Health in Potato Supply Chains project will implement soil health and climate-SMART agriculture practices and systems to improve the resilience of potato-growing operations on more than 6,000 acres in Wisconsin and Maine. Partner soil health experts will visit farms to develop soil health plans and conduct soil health testing. This project will work with participating producers to plan, design, and implement soil health management practices that meet grower goals and objectives. Project partners will use a combination of soil testing and greenhouse gas modeling to evaluate and report on the project’s environmental outcomes.

Wyoming’s Upper Colorado River Basin Water Efficiency and Conservation Projects

Lead Partner: Wyoming Water Development Commission
Project Type: Classic
Funding Pool: CCA
CCA (if Applicable): Colorado River Basin
Lead State: WY
Total Funding Request: $25,000,000.00
The Colorado River Basin is experiencing unprecedented water supply deficits due to historic drought conditions brought on by climate change. The Wyoming’s Upper Colorado River Basin Water Efficiency and Conservation projects will implement NRCS practices such as such as converting open canals to pipe, improving diversions, or lining conveyances on a wide scale in both basins will improve efficiency and provide drought resiliency through improved water-use efficiency, decreased system water losses, and improved water management. Collectively these activities will preserve the viability of the local economies, enhance watershed health, provide long-term durable system efficiency projects, create resilience to drought, and expand the efforts within the entire Colorado River Basin Critical Conservation Area to implement multi-year reductions in use or demand for water supplies.