This week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Interior Deputy Secretary Mike Connor, and Natural Resources Secretary John Laird announced a new partnership focused on conserving and restoring the Sierra-Cascade California Headwaters, as part of President Obama’s Resilient Lands and Waters initiative. Over the next two years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA), Forest Service (FS), and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will invest $130 million.
USDA also announced that $13.7 million is available to California producers and ranchers through NRCS’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), and approximately $6 million remains available to drought-stricken communities through Rural Development’s Emergency Community Water Assistance (ECWAG), making nearly $20 million available to drought-affected communities.
USDA’s Statement “California-based Organizations Support Federal and State Investments to Support Water Quality and Quantity in Drought-Stricken California” can be accessed here.
Additional information on ECWAG grants can be accessed here.
Additional information on EQIP can be accessed here.