The new Regional Conservation Partnership program administered by NRCS picked up robust national interest with 600 pre proposals given to the agency. Of that, 230 were invited back to continue the process. Jeff Vanderwilt, Assistant Conservationist for Programs in the South Dakota State NRCS office says this new program pairs groups with NRCS with the goal of putting more conservation on the ground.
Vanderwilt says a total of 8 proposals were received by his office for RCPP.
Vanderwilt says full proposals are due October 2 and following that will be screened and ranked with full funding announced by November 15. He says although there were only 8 initial proposals and 3 asked back, the quality was good. Vanderwilt says he expects more submitted in the future for RCPP.