$46M awarded to Idaho conservation projects

Select Idaho conservation projects have been awarded more than $46 million in funding, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday.

The funds are part of $1.5 billion the USDA and Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) are allocating to “conservation that funds solutions to natural resource challenges on agricultural land,” a USDA news release stated.

The projects were awarded with funding available through the Farm Bill and the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides $19.5 billion to support USDA’s oversubscribed conservation programs, including $4.95 billion for RCPP, the release says.

“America’s working lands and forests are crucial in our fight against the climate crisis — from sequestering carbon pollution to absorbing the impact of storms and floods,” John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy, said in the release. “These awards make sure that the people who know those landscapes best — farmers, ranchers and forest landowners — have the resources they need to lead this important work.”

The Idaho projects that received funding include:

• Southwest Idaho Forest Fund, $20.7 million — This project will work to help Idaho non-industrial private forest operators reduce hazardous fuels across 10,000 acres or more of high fire risk private forestland. In addition to reduced fire risk, the project intends to reduce risks to surface drinking water quality and utility infrastructure and retain carbon storage capacity.
• Lower South Fork Clearwater River Habitat Restoration, $6.4 million — This project seeks to improve inadequate habitat for fish, wildlife and invertebrates as well as water quality degradation in the South Fork Clearwater River watershed by implementing restorative actions on two miles of mainstem river corridor. This project addresses two of the three priority resource concerns of the Western Waters CCA in which it falls. These two miles of the lower reach of the river falls within the Nez Perce Tribe reservation boundary, a historically underserved community. The river needs repair to stop concentrated erosion, increase terrestrial and aquatic species habitat, reconnect the river to its floodplain and improve riparian area functions. The project will incorporate floodplain connection to restore hydrology, large wood and boulder placement for habitat complexity, and create aquatic and terrestrial habitat with native vegetation. Project partners will help advance equity and opportunity for producers who would not otherwise have the means to make such improvements.
• Idaho Climate Resilient Land Protection Project, $19.4 million — The goal of the Idaho Climate Resilient Land Protection Partnership is the long-term protection of climate-resilient terrestrial and aquatic habitat and ecosystem carbon from subdivisions and development. The Nature Conservancy and partners will permanently protect thousands of acres of critical climate-resilient land from the threat of development using entity-held and U.S.-held conservation easements. The project will achieve key conservation benefits for resource concerns including terrestrial and aquatic habitat and carbon storage, helping the USDA meet climate-smart objectives through mitigation and adaptation. Through this partners will protect habitat, enhance wildlife connectivity and conserve biological diversity. Project easements will protect 20,000 acres of private farm, ranch and forestlands, the 40 stream miles encompassed by those lands, and 1 million metric tons of ecosystem carbon stored on those lands.

The list of all 92 awarded projects here is available online at tinyurl.com/ma87wa8.