Montana’s Focused Conservation is
Locally Led: NRCS and conservation districts convene local working groups to gather input from farmers, ranchers, conservation partners and other members of the community to develop a vision for their county.
Partner-Centric: NRCS works with local, state, federal, and tribal partners and with nongovernmental organizations to strategically focus agency investments on the highest-priority resource needs in Montana.
Cost Effective: By collaborating with partners, NRCS leverages additional funding sources from other groups to make the most effective use of limited federal conservation dollars. Leveraging funds increases the total conservation investment and provides an economic stimulus to local and regional economies.
Focused and Targeted: Instead of funding conservation projects on a scattered, farm-by-farm approach, NRCS targets its investments in very specific areas to achieve clearly defined natural resource goals as identified by local partners. This approach harnesses the power of multiple landowners in one area undertaking similar conservation projects to achieve a regional or landscape-scale result.
Results-Oriented: The focused approach emphasizes planning with the end result in mind. NRCS staff work with local partners to set measurable goals and to track and achieve meaningful conservation results.
Montana Focused Conservation Fact Sheet (PDF; 596 KB)
How It Works
Focused Conservation begins with goals identified in county-level Long Range Plans. Based on those plans, NRCS develops Targeted Implementation Plans to guide on-the-ground implementation. Find Long Range Plans for each county at What's Available in My County? as they are finalized.
TIPs explain:
- How outreach will ensure participation
- How natural resource objectives will be accomplished
- Which conservation systems will best address resource concerns
- How partnerships will be leveraged
- How outcomes will be measured and reported
EQIP Funding
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is the agency’s most commonly used program to address private lands conservation needs. In Montana, NRCS uses a “Focused Conservation” strategy to guide its EQIP investments.
- NRCS accepts conservation program applications on a continual basis, however, NRCS establishes application ranking dates for evaluation, ranking and approval of eligible applications. Applications received after the ranking date will be automatically deferred to the next funding period.
- See What's Available in My County for current, local funding opportunities.
General EQIP funding and funding for special projects in Montana will be directed to the highest-ranking Targeted Implementation Plans. NRCS will commit funds to TIPs for the duration of the plans, usually two to three years. National program priorities will still exist, and Montana landowners can participate in them as they have in the past.
The Role of Local Working Groups
While NRCS has used local working groups to set local natural resource priorities in the past, the role of local working groups will be even more important in the Montana Focused Conservation model. Each year, NRCS will convene local working groups to gather input from farmers, ranchers, conservation partners and other members of the community to develop or renew its long range plan. They will also help develop or reassess Targeted Implementation Plans. NRCS will add, renew or modify implementation plans based on local input and any new data received. EQIP funds will be awarded to the highest-ranking Targeted Implementation Plans.
