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Good news! The State Conservation Commission (SCC) has received our final appropriation report from the Governor’s Office of Financial Management (OFM) on how much funding is available as re-appropriation of Natural Resource Investments (NRI) funds. We are able to request a re-appropriation of capital funding that we do not think we will fully spend in a given biennium so this funding is re-appropriated funds from the prior 21-23 biennium. Per the Natural Resource Investments Guidelines and feedback that was provided to us by the NRI Committee members, we will make an equal amount of funding available to each eligible conservation district in the amount of $19,500.
As with all SCC funding, conservation districts must meet all accountability requirements under CAPP to be eligible to receive funding. Conservation districts may access this additional available funding by selecting an existing project or developing new eligible projects to utilize the funding and then sending the project information in an email to their regional manager. As a reminder, information that we need in order to review new projects is:
- Is the project a cost-share project or a District Implemented Project (DIP),
- If more than one project will utilize the new funding, how much is to be allocated to each project,
- If cost share: landowner name, CPDS ID number, practice(s) to be implemented.
A district may also choose to add funds to currently funded projects or to the technical assistance outcome as well. As a reminder, the maximum that any given landowner can receive in cost-share assistance is $100,000 per fiscal year per landowner. Also, the updated maximum amount that may be utilized for technical assistance is now $25,180.50 which is 25% of the new total amount of funding available to each conservation district of $100,722.
In keeping with the NRI programmatic guidelines, we have not established a deadline by which conservation districts must access this available funding at this time. As we continue to work through this biennium, we will continue to evaluate progress and spending and may establish a deadline(s) as needed later on. If you have any questions or concerns at all, please reach out to your regional manager.
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