RCPP
Description
The Blackfeet Tribe and project partners will provide sprinkler irrigation as on farm/ranch improvements to address conservation priorities as established by the Blackfeet Agricultural Resource Management Plan. These conservation activities will be located on both Tribal and Bureau of Indian Affairs) irrigation projects and along rivers and streams in all six of the Blackfeet Nations watersheds. This allows the Blackfeet Water Department to put water rights onto the land and improve tribal farms and ranches in the process. It also provides tribal producers with the opportunity to improve their forage production for their livestock operations.
Elligibility
Within Blackfeet reservation boundaries
EQIP Program ranking criteria, emphasizing historically underserved
Below are the definitions of the four categories of producers that NRCS groups as Historically Underserved. These are published on the NRCS website.
Improvement stays with the land owner. Contract stays with the land.
Available Funding
$15,000,000 $12.5 million from NRCS $2.5 million from Blackfeet
Length of Contracts
5-year program time frame. Projecting 1 year 5 projects and then years 2-4 15 projects a piece.
Plan is to fund projects through 2028 anticipate being done 2029 with an option to renew if the partnership agreement if successful.
Typically time frame it takes to get installed and approved.
Hopeful for 1-year start to finish
Projects are funded from the water source (pump) to the sprinkler system including power from the power source to the pump. The applicant is responsible for the cost of getting power to the field (electric pole, generator, solar, etc.)
Cost-share requirements?
Reimbursement program after expenses incurred. Cost share of 10% originally, is still up in the air.
Required Documentation (prove ownership/lease arrangements)
Prove Ownership, Provide lease agreements, EQIP Application processes
Contact
Katie Barcus-Kuka Email: katiebarcuskuka@gmail.com Phone: (406) 470-1068
Year awarded
2023