Link: http://www.usda.gov/2006/05/0177.xml Kristin Scuderi (202) 720-4623 Sylvia Rainford (202) 720-2536 USDA ANNOUNCES RECIPIENTS OF 2006 COOPERATIVE CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE GRANTS WASHINGTON, May 25, 2006-U.S. Department of Agriculture today awarded nearly $5 million through the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI), a voluntary program that provides competitive grants for state and local governments, tribes and non-governmental organizations to foster conservation partnerships. "The recipients of these grants are excellent role models in showing how cooperative conservation is being used to accomplish regional, state and local milestones toward pressing natural resource and rural priorities," said Chuck Conner, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture. Thirty-eight entities in 24 states received grants totaling nearly $4 million. NRCS State Offices in 14 states received an additional $1 million to carry out rapid watershed assessment projects in their respective states with a broad array of partners. CCPI funds projects that focus technical and financial resources on conservation priorities in watersheds and airsheds of special significance. Airsheds are geographical areas that share the same air mass due to topography, meteorology and climate. NRCS received 81 proposals from 35 states. Among the 38 approved proposals were 11 non-governmental organizations, 10 resource conservation and development councils, five soil and water conservation districts, nine state and local governments, two universities and one tribe. Four were multi-state projects. The 14 NRCS state offices that received grants for CCPI projects were Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. CCPI offered two components this fiscal year-up to $2 million for Conservation Priorities and up to $3 million for Rapid Watershed Assessments (RWAs). Proposals selected through the Conservation Priorities component were watershed or airshed planning projects that addressed terrestrial and freshwater aquatic wildlife habitat, invasive species, livestock nutrient management, minor and specialty crop management, and agricultural air quality. Below is a list of grant recipients for the conservation priorities component: State Name of Entity CCPI Award Amount Alabama Alabama Mountains Rivers and Valleys Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc. $198,080.00 California Cottonwood Creed Watershed Group S133,962.00 California Yurok Tribe $168,890.00 Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc. $52,700.00 Hawaii Tri-Isle Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc. $100,000.00 Idaho Trout Unlimited $107,500.00 Maine Greater Lovell Land Trust, Inc. $74,036.00 Maine Project Share $50,000.00 New Jersey North Jersey Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc. $84,715.00 Ohio Morgan Soil and Water Conservation District $56,241.00 Ohio, Indiana, Michigan Ohio Department of Natural Resources-Division of Soil and Water Conservation $197,000.00 Oklahoma, Kansas The Nature Conservancy $59,500.00 Pennsylvania Southern Alleghenies Conservancy Charitable Trust $98,000.00 South Dakota South Dakota Department of Agriculture $99,235.00 South Dakota and Wyoming Belle Fourche River Watershed Partnership $200,000.00 Tennessee Cumberland Mountain Resource Conservation and Development Council $50,000.00 Tennessee Cumberland River Compact, Inc. $50,000.00 Washington Okanogan Conservation District $85,000.00 Wyoming Trout Unlimited $110,000.00 TOTAL $1,974,859.00 The Rapid Watershed Assessment (RWA) component, new for fiscal year 2006, funded locally-led resource assessment and planning on 8-digit hydrologic unit watersheds that average about 450,000 acres. RWAs assess current and desired resource conditions while identifying potential funding sources from stakeholders. Below is a list of grant recipients for the RWA component: State Name of Entity CCPI Award Amount Alaska Municipality of Anchorage $50,000.00 Colorado Mancos Soil Conservation District $50,000.00 Colorado Department of Agriculture $73,000.00 Iowa Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship $42,500.00 Iowa Prairie Rivers Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc. $150,000.00 Idaho Idaho Soil Conservation Commission $200,000.00 Kansas Kansas State University $150,000.00 Maine Time and Tide Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc. $40,000.00 Michigan Huron Pines Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc. $49,999.00 Michigan Upper Peninsula Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc. $44,440.00 Mississippi Northeast Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc. $100,000.00 Missouri University of Missouri $181,426.00 New Mexico Sierra Soil and Water Conservation District $50,000.00 New York Seneca Trail Resource Conservation and Development, Inc. $50,000.00 North Carolina North Carolina Division of Soil and Water Conservation $150,000.00 South Dakota South Dakota Department of Agriculture $51,175.00 South Dakota Belle Fourche River Watershed Partnership $150,000.00 Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation $29,600.00 Virginia Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation $37,975.00 TOTAL $1,650,115.00 Additional information about CCPI is available at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/ccpi. 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