The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Georgia, and partner groups, recently announced a sign-up for four regionally-focused conservation projects funded through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). Each project has unique objectives and boundaries discussed below, however the ranking date for all eligible producers in these project areas to apply is December 2, 2022. This sign-up is different from previously announced RCPP sign-ups as it is specifically for the conservation easement activities respective to each RCPP project.
The projects in Georgia involved in this signup include:
Project ID# 1960 – The Red Hills to the Coast, Connecting Land. The focus area is Brooks, Thomas, and Grady counties within the St. Marks River and Aucilla River watersheds only.
Project ID# 2061 – The Georgia Sentinel Landscape, with a focus area of Bryan, Bulloch, Chatham, Effingham, Evans, Liberty, Long and Tattnall counties.
Project ID# 2574 – Gopher Tortoise Conservation Initiative includes a total of 57 counties. They include:
Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Calhoun, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Clay, Coffee, Colquitt, Columbia, Cook, Crisp, Decatur, Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Early, Echols, Effingham, Emanuel, Evans, Glynn, Grady, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jenkins, Johnson, Lanier, Laurens, Lee, Liberty, Long, Lowndes, Macon, Marion, McDuffie, McIntosh, Miller, Mitchell, Montgomery, Muscogee, Pierce, Quitman, Randolph, Richmond, Schley, Screven, Seminole, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Tattnall, Taylor, Telfair, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Turner, Ware, Wayne, Webster, Wheeler, Wilcox and Worth counties.
And Project ID# 2419 – The Working Farms Fund, includes the focus area of Harris, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Newton and Rockdale counties.
More information can be found by contacting NRCS at your local USDA Service Center.