Updates on the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)

Columbia, Missouri, November 7, 2022 – USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Missouri invites qualifying farmers and landowners to apply to receive technical and financial assistance through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). Funding is available for seven regional partnership projects. Applications must be received by January 13, 2023 to be considered for this round of funding.

The RCPP projects and associated counties with projects are:

• Program Restoring & Improving Monarch Ecosystems (PRIME) (Andrew, Atchison, Benton, Buchanan, Caldwell, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Daviess, DeKalb, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Henry, Holt, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, Livingston, Mercer, Nodaway, Pettis, Platte, Ray, Saline, and Worth counties): This project aims to increase monarch and pollinator habitat in Northwest Missouri through land management practices, with emphasis on prescribed burning and short-term land rental payments. PRIME will target lands currently enrolled in and expiring from Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), enhancing monarch habitat by maintaining and restoring diverse native plant communities. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are the lead partners on this project.

• Grassland Bird and Grazing Lands Enhancement Initiative (Adair, Andrew, Atchison, Barton, Bates, Benton, Caldwell, Carroll, Cass, Cedar, Dade, Daviess, Dekalb, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Henry, Holt, Jasper, Johnson, Lawrence, Livingston, Mercer, Nodaway, Pettis, St. Clair, Sullivan, Vernon and Worth counties): This project assists landowners to incorporate native warm-season forages on privately owned grazing operations and other lands capable of supporting Northern Bobwhite Quail and Greater Prairie Chicken habitat. The Missouri Department of Conservation is the lead partner on this project.

• Sand Prairie Restoration Partnership Program (Butler, Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Scott, and Scotland counties): This project focuses on the restoration and protection of sand prairie communities on private land through voluntary perpetual easements. Perpetual easements will help protect this critically endangered native community, providing essential habitat for multiple threatened and endangered species. The Missouri Department of Conservation is the lead partner on this project. For more information about this project, contact Joe Tousignant at [email protected] or (573)755-6072.

• Precision Farm Data & Strategic Buffer Project (Chariton, Lafayette, Linn, Macon, Pettis, Randolph, and Saline counties): This project focuses on utilizing on-farm yield data to identify non-profitable or marginal cropland acres to strategically establish field borders, pollinator habitat, wetlands and more to maximize profitability while improving water quality and wildlife habitat. The Missouri Department of Conservation is the lead partner on this project.

• Restoring Glade and Woodland Communities for Threatened Species in the Ozarks of Southeast Missouri (Bollinger, Butler, Carter, Iron, Madison, Oregon, Perry, Reynolds, Ripley, Shannon, St. Francois, St. Genevieve, and Wayne counties): This project focuses on the restoration of glade, woodland, and forest habitats on private land for at-risk species such as the Indiana Bat, Gray Bat, Mead’s Milkweed, Hine’s Emerald Dragonfly, Ozark Hellbender, and the Grotto Sculpin. Practices that protect subsurface water quality will be Implemented in the Karst area of Perry County to protect the Grotto Sculpin. The Missouri Department of Conservation is the lead partner on this project.

• Missouri Targeted Conservation (portions of Audrain, Bates, Boone, Callaway, Cooper, Grundy, Harrison, Jefferson, Johnson, Lafayette, Macon, Mercer, Monroe, Pettis, Randolph, Saline, Shelby, St. Francois, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, and Vernon counties): This project aims to identify areas within a watershed where identified conservation practices can achieve the most economically efficient loss reductions for sediment, nutrients, and pathogens into waterways. The Blackwater, Cahokia-Joachim, South Fork Salt, Little Osage, and Thompson watersheds have been identified as the Missouri focus areas for 2023. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is the lead partner on this project.

• James River Headwaters RCPP (Greene & Webster counties): This project aims to support the protection of clean drinking water, improve the local farming community, and assist municipalities in meeting federal water quality requirements and improve aquatic ecosystem within the James River Headwaters. To accomplish this, this project is emphasizing practices like riparian buffers, rotational grazing, and soil health. The Watershed Committee of the Ozarks Inc. is the lead partner on this project.

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.

“RCPP is a unique program that leverages non-federal investments brought by conservation partners to accelerate conservation in selected project areas,” said Missouri NRCS State Conservationist Scott Edwards.“This approach helps us maximizetheuse of our collective

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