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This partnership marks a unique alliance between NRCS and a private group.

August 13, 2009

2 Min Read

USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service has selected a project for the 2009 Illinois' Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative.

 

The 120,000-acre project area submitted by the Clifftop Alliance, located in Monroe, St. Clair and Randolph Counties, is a part of the State called the 'Hill Prairie Corridor-Karst Sink Hole Plain.'

 

According to NRCS State Conservationist Bill Gradle, it's an important ecological region of Illinois. "It contains significant natural habitat and wildlife that are in great need of conservation and protection," says Gradle.

 

By pairing up groups who support this resource with NRCS and directing funds from the non-profits and two federal programs, the area could receive nearly $1.5 million in conservation improvements over the next five years.

 

Using two popular NRCS Farm Bill programs, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program, along with technical assistance and planning expertise from both NRCS and the Clifftop organization, the team will identify and address critical resource issues and problems found onsite. At present, 5,000 acres of the area are already involved in active conservation and stewardship activities. This new CCPI project provides financial and technical assistance to plan and install restoration practices and protection measures on an additional 2,500 acres.

 

NRCS will assist "Clifftop," (Conserving Lands In Farm, Forest, Talus Or Prairie), formed in 2006 by a group of local landholders in Monroe and Randolph counties. Conservation practices and techniques Clifftop and NRCS will install include invasive species control, forest stand improvements, reforestation, prescribed burning, and the careful development of customized forest/wildlife conservation management activity plans.

 

"When complete, this project will benefit rare and declining ecosystems and improve wildlife habitat, particularly species we know are in great need of our help," Gradle explains. In addition, forested areas will gain improvements in local air quality.

 

For 2009, the first year of the project, NRCS funds and matching contributions from partners totals nearly $200,000. If funds are available, over four years, NRCS plans to provide $750,000 in technical and financial assistance. Clifftop will offer matching funds and in-kind services worth more than $700,000.

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