State Conservationist Ivan Dozier is announcing the U. S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service will offer funding in Macoupin County for the Upper Macoupin Creek Watershed using the Regional Conservation Partnership Program. NRCS has partnered with American Farmland Trust to help local producers address natural resource concerns, namely degraded water quality and soil erosion. The project is to improve water quality in portions of Macoupin County's Upper Macoupin Creek Watershed. Producers can apply for both technical and financial assistance through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program to install practices such as drainage water management, denitrifying bioreactors, saturated buffers, cover crops, nutrient management techniques and no-till systems.

NRCS RCPP funding will be available to Macoupin County Producers with land located in the Upper Macoupin Creek Watershed. To take advantage of this special conservation funding opportunity, interested and eligible producers should submit an application by the cutoff dates of January 19 and March 16, 2018.

To apply, eligible producers should contact the NRCS Carlinville Field Office. The Phone number is 217-854-2626 ext. 3.