The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service in partnership with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) are offering up to $450,000 in financial assistance for livestock producers on grazing lands. Applications will be accepted continuously with a cutoff date for this year’s round of funding of November 17, 2023. Funding is available to producers in ten counties in Northwestern Nebraska: Dawes, Box Butte, Sheridan, Grant, Hooker, Thomas, Cherry, Brown, Rock, and Keya Paha.
“World Wildlife Fund’s Sustainable Ranching Initiative is excited to partner with NRCS to promote livestock grazing practices that benefit grassland ecological functions, grassland bird populations and ranch viability and resiliency.” Stated Alexis Bonogofsky, WWF Sustainable Ranching Initiative Program Manager. “Through this RCPP, ‘Building ranch resiliency in Nebraska’, we look forward make a landscape-level impact and working to understand how grazing practices impact ecological function, soil health and grassland bird populations in the Northern Great Plains (NGP).”
The goal of this program is to increase resiliency on Nebraska ranches through complete ranch systems planning and implementation of practices that will improve grassland and natural resources and enhance economic viability. While not required additional financial assistance is available to producers that enroll in WWF’s Ranch Systems and Viability Planning (RSVP) program. RSVP provides training, cost share, monitoring, and access to peer-to-peer networking for producers willing to not convert grasslands for 10 years, follow and agreed upon grazing management plan, and on ranch monitoring.
The following practices are eligible under this project:
Brush Management (314)
Herbaceous Weed Treatment (315)
Conservation Cover (327)
Prescribed Burning (338)
Fence (382)
Pasture and Hay Planting (512)
Livestock Pipeline (516)
Prescribed Grazing (528)
Pumping Plant (533)
Range Planting (550)
Heavy Use Area Protection (561)
Livestock Shelter Structure (576)
Watering Facility (614)
Water Well (642)
Upland Wildlife Habitat Management (645)
Structures for Wildlife (649)
Additional partners include South Dakota Department of Game, Fish, and Parks, Rainwater Basin Joint Venture, Department of Interior - Bureau of Land Management, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, Millborn Seeds, Northern Great Plains Joint Venture, and South Dakota State University.
Source : usda.gov