The USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), MassWildlife, and the Massachusetts Forest Alliance are working together to provide private landowners in Massachusetts technical and financial assistance offered through the Massachusetts Collaborative for Private Forestland – Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP).
RCPP is a partner-driven federal program that leverages collective resources to find solutions to address natural resource challenges on private land. This RCPP project focuses on improving and protecting wildlife habitat on forest land in the Commonwealth. Applications received by March 31, 2022 will be ranked and considered for funding.
This collaboration furthers MassWildlife’s goals of conserving Massachusetts’ fish and wildlife and the habitats that sustain them.
The RCPP will provide up to $1.5 million in NRCS funding through August 2023 to plan and enable practices that benefit rare and declining habitats on private lands that can help vulnerable species like New England Cottontail and Eastern Box Turtle, and expand on existing habitat projects on public lands.
Eligible landowners must own forestland in Massachusetts that is at least 10 acres in size. Applications will be ranked according to criteria that includes the species to benefit, extent of habitat, and location as it relates to mapped habitat features as well as Environmental Justice communities.
More information about RCPP and more detailed eligibility requirements can be found from the NRCS RCPP website.
Interested parties should e-mail Patrick Conlin, MassWildlife, at Patrick.Conlin@mass.gov.