Ashley Curran, Grants Manager for the Association of Illinois Soil & Water Conservation Districts, sends an update on grants the association is working on in service of our local SWCDs and our efforts towards healthy soil and cleaner water . . .
NRCS-SWCD Contribution Agreement Extension – FY25 is off to a good start. Most of sub-contract extension forms have been received. If you haven’t submitted yet, please get those signed and sent in as soon as possible. Countersigned extension forms are scheduled to be returned soon.
As I’m sure you are aware, there has a been a delay in payment reimbursements. We apologize for the inconvenience. The NRCS state office folks have been super helpful and have allowed us to bypass their grant’s system and submit your invoices manually. This ensures that your invoices get to where they need to go much more quickly. We will also be submitting these manually moving forward. Big thanks to NRCS for their help getting these reimbursements back on track. I am hopeful that we will receive some payments and get those disbursed to you before the end of the calendar year. Thank you very much for your patience and understanding.
Currently all invoices that were submitted for FY24 have been submitted to NRCS for payment. If you have not submitted any of your invoices from FY24, please do so as soon as possible so we can wrap up the fiscal year and move on to FY25.
We also are working on a contract for IT support related to Citrix and will have more information to share with you in December at ISWCDEA Winter Training.
New NRCS IRA Funded Agreement – This grant has been completed and finalized. I plan on “launching” this agreement during my presentation at Winter Training in December. AISWCD is not planning on hiring any new employees to work on this grant for the time being, but we will instead be opening up the work in the form of sub-contracts to district employees. The two main components of this agreement are reinvigorating local work group planning and watershed planning. We are working with NRCS to develop some training to help get you started. It is a 3-year agreement that includes funding for any districts that would like to participate. If you would like to hear more about how your district can assist with this agreement, please come to Winter Training.
Conservation Cover Corps Agreement – AmeriCorps – AISWCD has regretfully decided not to move forward with this agreement. Fortunately, the funding for this grant was able to go to another organization so the money will be well spent. AISWCD did not have the capacity to meet the requirements laid out in the agreement and sub-contracting the work was not permitted. This decision weighed heavily on the board, but it was ultimately decided that it was in our best interest and the best interest of the districts not to move forward.
Kegs4Conservation RCPP – AISWCD was not selected by NRCS to receive this grant and has chosen not to move forward with this initiative.
Sand County RCPP – There are some technical assistance dollars allocated for districts in this grant but there is no new information at this time. AISWCD will provide more details as they become available.
NRCS Capacity Building Grant Sub-Contract with AISWCD – AISWCD has not entered into a sub-contract with IDOA/Sangamon County SWCD to manage any aspects of this grant. Sangamon SWCD and IDOA will continue to administer this grant moving forward. All grant dollars related to this initiative are allocated to the grantees, not AISWCD.
ADM re:generations program – For those of you that referred acres to the ADM re:generations program on behalf of our partners at American Farmland Trust, we have received notice that those dollars are on their way. AFT’s Julie Larsen says, “I am pleased to report AFT not only made our 2024 goal of 275,000 cover crop acres enrolled in the ADM re:generations program but surpassed it by thousands of acres. Your districts’ assistance with program information outreach truly helped get the word out to Illinois producers. A total of 21,344 acres were referred and enrolled.”
Thank you to our partners at AFT for their continued support of SWCDs, soil health and cleaner water.
Ashley Curran with the AISWCD “Soil Your Undies” display at the 2024 Illinois State Fair.
Fabulous job everyone! Keep up the good work. If you have any questions about the status or requirements of any of the grants or agreements mentioned above, please do not hesitate to contact me. We will continue to provide updates as they become available.
