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Regional Conservation Partnership Programs

Growing and Expanding Nebraska’s Grassland Cores is a multi-year Regional Conservation Partnership Program. This program is designed to proactively address woody encroachment—particularly eastern red cedar—across Nebraska’s priority grassland cores identified through NRCS’s Great Plains Grassland Initiative. Through this effort, approximately $18.8 million in NRCS funding will be delivered to landowners to implement targeted grassland management practices on more than 90,000 acres statewide.

This RCPP is designed to streamline project implementation and reinforce the Great Plains Grassland Initiative (GPGI) emphasis on sustaining core grasslands. This approach focuses on addressing encroachment before tracts are overtaken by eastern red cedar and follow-up management to address new encroachment or re-infestation. Follow-up treatments ensure lasting success. The program prioritizes grasslands based on canopy cover and ecological condition, allowing partners to efficiently enroll producers and match treatments to site-specific needs. Eligible practices include Brush Management, Prescribed Burning, Grazing Management (deferment), and Pest Management Conservation Systems, with cost-share and incentives structured to encourage long-term maintenance of tree-free grasslands. A centralized online mapping portal supports partner-led site assessments, compliance screening, and practice design.

Available statewide, this RCPP focuses implementation within GPGI priority areas plus the Central Loess Hills. Priority enrollment eligibility is determined by a combination of factors, including encroachment risk and commitment to follow-up treatments. All grassland tracts in the USDA system have been categorized by canopy cover:

Special Considerations: Self-certified Historically Underserved participants will be elevated to Tier I, as will tracts adjacent to recent woody encroachment projects (within 5 years). Both will require follow-up treatments. RWBJV partners will promote the program to eligible landowners with Tier 1 and 2 tracts by sending postcards highlighting benefits to birds and producers.
RWBJV partners will promote the program to eligible landowners with Tier 1 and 2 tracts through postcards and letters highlighting benefits to birds and producers.

This webpage serves as a hub for the documents, tools, and guidance needed to consistently implement the program, coordinate with landowners, and ensure project success.

Why It's Important

Grassland invasion by Eastern Red Cedar and other woody species negatively impacts working rangelands by decreasing forage production and increasing wildfire risk. It also negatively impacts populations of grassland-dependent wildlife like Nebraska’s state bird the Western Meadowlark as well as 60% of the world’s population of Greater Prairie Chickens. Through a new Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture (RWBJV) partners will deliver $18.8 million in Natural Resources Conservation Service through voluntary incentive-based contracts to address woody encroachment. This statewide program will focus work in five geographies. The RWBJV partners will work with producers to address current conditions and implement sustainable management practices to reduce the vulnerability to woody encroachment and/or reinfestation.

Mapping Portal

The RWBJV developed an online mapping portal to streamline applications. Lead partners will use the portal to produce resource assessments and maps, that will outline how and when the work can be done. This guidance is consistent with NRCS programmatic agreements with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and State Historical Preservation Office (SHPO). These reports become part of the application package and guide contractors on implementation details (acres, type of practice, conservation measures, project deadline, etc.). The spatial tool priorities producers that are adjacent to recent grassland projects (within 5 years) in an effort to help grow the footprint of Nebraska’s Core Grasslands. This portal is updated annually as more projects are completed.

Mapping Portal

Spatial Database for Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)