As a part of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the most rewarding part of my job is seeing and hearing about the impact our work is having on the communities we serve.
Last month, I had the pleasure of meeting with American Farmland Trust President Andrew McElwaine. He presented me with a card signed by more than 1,300 people thanking Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and NRCS for the successful launch of the newest Farm Bill conservation program – the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, or RCPP.
I am proud of my NRCS colleagues across the country who have worked so hard to launch this exciting new program, and I appreciate the recognition of NRCS’s efforts from our partners at American Farmland Trust.
The response to RCPP has been unprecedented – from local farmers and conservation districts to for-profit companies and non-governmental organizations – $372 million in federal funds will marry up with over $400 million in contributions from partners to deliver 115 projects in all 50 states and Puerto Rico to benefit agriculture and our natural resources.
RCPP is an example of government working at its best. It’s a partner-driven, locally-led approach to conservation. We’re empowering local communities to tell us what resource concerns they want to target in their local communities. We’re engaging new partners in the conservation mission, harnessing new expertise, fresh perspectives and additional resources. We’re demonstrating the power of public-private partnership in delivering solutions to our most pressing natural resource challenges.
Just looking at a few examples:
Through RCPP, we’re funding a multi-state project bringing together more than 40 partnering organizations from Michigan, Ohio and Indiana to help farmers protect their soils and optimize their use of nutrients with the goal of reducing phosphorus run-off into Western Lake Erie waterways.
In Lake Champlain, nearly 20 organizations will work together with farmers and ranchers to help improve water quality, addressing the surge of blue-green algae blooms.
Partners will target priority areas in the Puget Sound to help improve habitat and water quality for at-risk wildlife, like the Chinook salmon, bull trout and steelhead. They plan to use a farmer-to-farmer approach to increase participation.
We expect our $372 million investment to be matched dollar for dollar, which means RCPP has the potential to generate nearly $800 million for conservation. And this is just the beginning. We will be accepting new project proposals for the next round of RCPP starting this spring.
I’m looking forward to witnessing the power of locally-led conservation at its finest.
