Regional Conservation Partnership Program | NRCS Montana
USDA Logo

Natural Resources Conservation Service

Montana


United States Department of Agriculture
  •  
  • Topics
    • Technical Resources
      • Conservation Planning
      • Data, Maps, & Analysis
      • Ecological Science
      • Engineering
      • Land Use
      • State Technical Committee
    • Soils
      • Soil Health
      • Soil Surveys
    • Water
      • Water Resources
    • Snow Survey
      • Snow Survey Products
    • Air
      • Air Quality
    • Plants & Animals
    • Energy
    • People
      • Partners
      • Teachers and Students
      • Volunteers
      • NRCS Employees
      • Community Agriculture
  • Programs
    • Farm Bill
    • Financial Assistance
    • Easements
    • Landscape Initiatives
    • Landscape Planning
    • Montana Focused Conservation
  • Newsroom
    • News Releases
    • Events & Deadlines
    • Photos and Videos
    • Public Notices
    • Publications & Fact Sheets
    • Success Stories
  • Contact Us
    • Local Service Centers
    • State Office
    • Feedback Forms
  •  
 
  • About Us
  •   |  
  • National Centers
  •   |  
  • State Websites
  • Browse By Audience
  •   |  
  • A-Z Index
  •   |  
  • Help

You are Here: 

Home / 

Programs / 

Financial Assistance / 

Regional Conservation Partnership Program

Stay Connected USDA In Facebook NRCS In Twitter NRCS In Youtube NRCS In Mail USDA In Flicker
Z6_30DC1140N83C50ABLBMIOD10R1
{}
Z7_30DC1140N83C50ABLBMIOD1072

Web Content Viewer

Component Action Menu
  • ${title}
${loading}
Actions

Loading Tree...

  • Programs

    • Farm Bill
      • Conservation Compliance
    • Financial Assistance
      • Conservation Innovation Grants
        • CIG Project Search
      • Conservation Stewardship Program
      • Environmental Quality Incentives Program
      • Regional Conservation Partnership Program
    • Easements
      • Agricultural Conservation Easement Program
      • Healthy Forests Reserve Program
    • Landscape Initiatives
    • Landscape Planning
      • Emergency Watershed Protection Program
      • Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Program
      • Watershed Rehabilitation
    • Montana Focused Conservation

RCPP Highlights

  • RCPP - How to Apply

RCPP Related Links

  • Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership
  • Manage Your Conservation Activities
  • Montana Payment Schedules
  • Montana Focused Conservation
  • What's Available in My County
  • Conservation Compliance

Regional Conservation Partnership Program

Regional Conservation Partnership Program

NRCS is accepting applications for the Bitterroot Conservation Connectivity RCPP project year-round. Apply by April 29, 2022 for the current funding cycle. News Release.

NRCS is accepting applications for the Northern Great Plains Grassland RCPP project year-round. Apply by March 11, 2022, for the current funding cycle. News Release.

USDA is accepting project proposals through 11:59 p.m. on April 13, 2022. Read the news release. View the funding opportunities for RCPP Classic and RCPP AFA.

NRCS in Montana accepted applications through October 29, 2021, for the current funding cycle. Read the news release.

RCPP on the National NRCS Web site

Program application dates for all states.

About RCPP

The Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) promotes coordination of NRCS conservation activities with partners that offer value-added contributions to expand our collective ability to address on-farm, watershed, and regional natural resource concerns. Through RCPP, NRCS seeks to co-invest with partners to implement projects that demonstrate innovative solutions to conservation challenges and provide measurable improvements and outcomes tied to the resource concerns they seek to address. Read the RCPP Fact Sheet (PDF, 542 KB).

There are two types of funding opportunities under RCPP: RCPP Classic and RCPP Alternative Funding Arrangements (AFA). RCPP Classic projects are implemented using NRCS contracts and easements with producers, landowners and communities, in collaboration with project partners. Through RCPP AFA, partners have more flexibility in working directly with agricultural producers to support the development of new conservation structures and approaches that would not otherwise be available under RCPP Classic.

RCPP Projects in Montana

The following projects were included in the October 29, 2021, program application ranking period. In addition, the Northern Great Plains Grassland Conservation Project had a later, application ranking period of March 11, 2022.

  • Montana Saline Seep Reclamation Project
  • Yellowstone Region Agricultural Sustainability Project
  • Big Game Habitat Improvement Project
  • Northern Great Plains Grassland Conservation Project

Projects renewed in 2020: FY22 program application ranking date was December 3, 2021.

  • Missouri Headwaters and Lower Gallatin Basin RCPP Project (Gallatin Valley Project)

Projects selected in 2021

  • Flint Creek Valley Conservation Partnership Project

Projects selected in 2020: FY22 program application ranking date is April 29, 2022.

  • Bitterroot Conservation Connectivity Project

Completed projects (archival purposes only):​

  • Upper Clark Fork River Drought Resiliency Project
  • Ducks Unlimited Prairie Pothole Region Working Lands Project

The New RCPP

The 2018 Farm Bill made a number of substantial changes to RCPP:

  • RCPP is now a standalone program with its own funding. Moving forward, landowners and ag producers will enter into RCPP contracts and RCPP easements.
  • Enhanced Alternative Funding Arrangement (AFA) provision—NRCS may award up to 15 AFA projects, which are more grant-like and rely more on partner capacity to implement conservation activities.
  • Three funding pools reduced to two—the National pool was eliminated. Partners must apply to either the Critical Conservation Area (CCA) or State/Multistate funding pool.
  • Emphasis on project outcomes—all RCPP projects must now develop and report on their environmental outcomes.

Successful RCPP projects embody the following core principles:

  • Impact—RCPP applications must propose effective and compelling solutions that address one or more natural resource priorities to help solve natural resource challenges. Partners are responsible for evaluating a project’s impact and results.
  • Partner Contributions—Partners are responsible for identifying any combination of cash and in-kind value-added contributions to leverage NRCS’s RCPP investments. It is NRCS’s goal that partner contributions at least equal the NRCS investment in an RCPP project. Substantive partner contributions are given priority consideration as part of the RCPP application evaluation criteria. 
  • Innovation—NRCS seeks projects that integrate multiple conservation approaches, implement innovative conservation approaches or technologies, build new partnerships, and effectively take advantage of program flexibilities to deliver conservation solutions.
  • Partnerships and Management—Partners must have experience, expertise, and capacity to manage the partnership and project, provide outreach to producers, and quantify the environmental outcomes of an RCPP project. RCPP ranking criteria give preference to applicants that meaningfully engage historically underserved farmers and ranchers.

Project types that may be suited to AFA, as highlighted by the 2018 Farm Bill include:     

  • Projects that use innovative approaches to leverage the federal investment in conservation.  
  • Projects that deploy a pay-for-performance conservation approach.  
  • Projects that seek large-scale infrastructure investment that generate conservation benefits for agricultural producers and nonindustrial private forest owners. 

RCPP Regulation

The 2018 Farm Bill requires NRCS to develop a regulation for RCPP. The RCPP final rule was published on the Federal Register January 15, 2021.

Funding

Funding opportunities for RCPP Classic and RCPP ARA are divided between two funding pools.

  • State/Multistate. For projects in a single state or across several states. These receive 50 percent of funding.
  • Critical Conservation Areas. For projects in eight geographic areas chosen by Secretary. These receive 50 percent of funding. Parts of Eastern and Central Montana are included in the Prairie Grasslands Region.

Who is Eligible

Partner Eligibility

Funding is open to agriculture and silviculture associations, non-government organizations, Indian tribes, state and local governments, conservation districts and universities, among others. Eligible organizations interested in partnering with NRCS on conservation projects can develop applications for the RCPP competition. The lead partner for an RCPP project is the entity that submits an application, and if selected for an award is ultimately responsible for collaborating with NRCS to successfully complete an RCPP project. Partners are expected to offer value-added contributions to amplify the impact of RCPP funding in an amount equal to or greater than the NRCS investment.

Producer and Landowner Eligibility

Once NRCS selects a project and executes an RCPP agreement with a lead partner, agricultural producers may participate in an RCPP project in one of two ways. First, producers may engage with project partners and delegate a willing partner to act as their representative in working with NRCS. Second, producers seeking to carry out conservation activities consistent with a RCPP project in the project’s geographic area can apply directly to NRCS at their local USDA service center. 

Land Eligibility

RCPP projects must be carried out on agricultural or nonindustrial private forest land or associated land on which NRCS determines an eligible activity would help achieve conservation benefits (i.e., improved condition of natural resources resulting from implementation of conservation activities).

Eligible conservation activities may be implemented on public lands when those activities will benefit eligible lands as determined by NRCS and are included in the scope of an approved RCPP project.

RCPP Conservation Activities

RCPP projects may include a range of on-the-ground conservation activities implemented by farmers, ranchers and forest landowners. These activities include:

  • Land management/land improvement/restoration practices
  • Land rentals
  • Entity-held easements
  • United States-held easements
  • Public works/watersheds

A single RCPP project application can propose to employ any combination of these eligible activity types as part of an RCPP project. For more details about eligible RCPP conservation activities, please see the RCPP funding announcement.

How to Apply to RCPP

Eligible partners interested in applying should consult the announcement for program funding, which outlines requirements for proposal applications. NRCS reviews partnership proposals according to the priorities identified in the announcement and makes project selections. Upon selection of a partnership proposal, NRCS and the partner enter into a partnership agreement through which they will coordinate to provide producers in the project area assistance. Partnership agreements may be for a period of up to five years. NRCS may extend an agreement one time for an additional 12 months if needed to meet the objectives of the program. More information on this process is available on the RCPP - How to Apply webpage.

If you are a producer and/or landowner interested in existing RCPP projects, please contact your local USDA service center offsite link image

Prior-Year RCPP (Archives)

  • 2021 Regional Conservation Partnership Program information Archival Purposes Only

More Information

  • NRCS National RCPP Web page
  • Partner-Led Solutions publication (PDF; 4.7 MB)
  • Find your local USDA Service Center

Contacts

Kelley Barkell
EQIP Specialist
Phone: 406-587-6849
Email: Kelley.Barkell

NRCS Home | USDA.gov | Site Map | Civil Rights | FOIA | Plain Writing | Accessibility Statement

Policy and Links | Non-Discrimination Statement | Information Quality | USA.gov | Whitehouse.gov

Complementary Content
  • ${title}${badge}
${loading}