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- By Chez Oxendine
- Energy | Environment
Six Indigenous-led projects have been awarded grant funding through the Department of Agriculture’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) that will help advance Native-directed land stewardship and environmental protection.
The funding, totaling nearly $111 million, comes as a part of USDA’s broader commitment to tribal projects. The Natural Resources Conservation Service, the USDA agency administering the grant, specifically set aside $100 million this year for such projects, per prior Tribal Business News reporting.
The Intertribal Buffalo Council received the largest Native-serving grant, with nearly $64 million to restore and maintain grasslands for buffalo across three regions — from Utah to New Mexico, across central states including Nebraska and Oklahoma, and throughout the Northern Plains. The project aims to support buffalo restoration and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Navajo Nation Department of Agriculture was awarded $25 million to replace aging windmill pumps with solar technology across 35 tribal ranches, addressing long-standing water distribution challenges on the Nation’s reservation.
The Ute Mountain Tribe’s $9 million award will be used to upgrade outdated irrigation systems by installing 49 new pivot and sprinkler packages, aiming to improve irrigation efficiency by 32 percent. The tribe estimates this will conserve more than 7,200 acre-feet of water per irrigation season.
In the Northern Great Plains, the Buffalo Nations Grassland Alliance secured nearly $5 million to work with 16 Native nations on identifying and replacing suitable croplands. The Nez Perce Tribe will direct more than $6.4 million toward rehabilitating two miles of river corridor to reduce erosion and reconnect the river to its natural floodplain. The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate will use its $1.2 million grant to develop a database that will help optimize agricultural practices by tracking crop emissions and sustainability.
The tribal funding is part of a larger $1.5 billion RCPP distribution to 92 partners. The USDA estimates partners will provide an additional $968 million in cost-sharing contributions toward the awards, catalyzing nearly $2.5 billion in total conservation spending.
“America’s working lands and forests are crucial in our fight against the climate crisis—from sequestering carbon pollution to absorbing the impact of storms and floods,” John Podesta, senior advisor to president Biden for international climate policy, said in a statement. “Today’s awards make sure that the people who know those landscapes best—farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners—have the resources they need to lead this important work.”
