§ 1464.1 Applicability.

(a) The purposes of the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) are as follows: (1) Carry out eligible activities to further the conservation, protection, restoration, and sustainable use of soil, water (including sources of drinking water and ground water), wildlife, agricultural land, and related natural resources on eligible land on a regional or watershed scale; (2) Encourage eligible partners to cooperate with producers in— (i) Meeting or avoiding the need for national, State, and local natural resource regulatory requirements related to production on eligible lands, including through alignment of partnership projects with other national, State, and local agencies and programs addressing similar natural resource or environmental concerns, and (ii) Implementing projects that will result in the adoption, installation, and maintenance of eligible activities that affect multiple agricultural or nonindustrial private forest operations on a local, regional, State, or multistate basis; (3) Encourage flexible and streamlined delivery of conservation assistance to producers through partnership agreements; and (4) Engage producers and eligible partners in conservation projects to achieve greater conservation outcomes and benefits for producers than would otherwise be achieved. (b) Through RCPP, NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to implement eligible activities through partnership and supplemental agreements with eligible partners and program contracts with producers. (c) RCPP is available in any of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands of the United States, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. (d) Each program contract, partnership agreement, and supplemental agreement is subject to the regulations in place on the date it is executed.