USDA's Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has issued a Request for Proposals
(RFP) and announced the availability of Fiscal Year 2012 financial
assistance in the amount of (up to) $11.74 million under the Cooperative
Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI) and (up to) $25 million in
the Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program (WREP) through the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI). The $36.74 million is available for new MRBI proposals. The funding availability announcement appeared in the January 3, 2012 Federal Register. All proposals must be received on or before March 19, 2012.
According to the Federal Register
announcement, NRCS will provide assistance to eligible participants in
the 54 designated focus areas (8-digit hydrologic unit codes (HUCs)) in
the following 13 States: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, South
Dakota, and Wisconsin (click on the figure on the left to see an
enlarged map of the focus areas). Proposals from potential partners are
to be based on one or more 12-digit HUCs within the 54 designated focus
areas. Partners who are currently involved in approved MRBI agreements
through CCPI or WREP and want to work in other 12-digit watersheds must
submit new proposals for a new project. The specific 8-digit HUC
"Designated Focus Areas" for the MRBI in FY 2012 are listed in the Federal Register announcement.
For
additional information about this RFP, interested parties should contact
Deena Wheby, MRBI Coordinator, NRCS Conservation Initiatives Team, by
telephone at 859-224-7403 or by e-mail at deena.wheby@ky.usda.gov.