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    For decades, land trusts have partnered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to help farmers, ranchers and landowners conserve America’s farmlands, ranchlands, wetlands, grasslands and other vital landscapes. Through two NRCS conservation easement programs — the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program-Agricultural Land Easements and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program — land trusts help permanently protect tens of thousands of acres each year. These lands face immense development pressure and, once lost, would no longer be available to grow the food and fiber that is needed to sustain America.

    Working alongside NRCS, our partnership team is creating new resources, and enhancing communication between the agency and land trusts, all to strengthen the ACEP-ALE and RCPP programs to help families, farmers, ranchers and other landowners conserve their lands.

    Alliance and NRCS team members are committed to helping land trusts successfully participate in NRCS programs.

    Meet our team

    NRCS Partnership Team

    NCAT Team

    The Alliance established the NRCS Conservation Acquisitions Team — or NCAT — in 2024 to provide direct support to land trusts involved in ACEP-ALE and RCPP or considering it.

    The team tracks projects nationwide, from early application planning through closing, helping land trusts create strong application packages and addressing issues in the process. Learn more about NCAT services.

    Learn

    Toolkits

    • Toolkit

      ACEP-ALE Toolkit

      Is your organization looking to utilize the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program-Agricultural Land Easements program? The ACEP-ALE toolkit includes step-by-step guidance for your application, information on becoming a certified entity, land trust success stories using the ACEP-ALE program and an acronym guide and glossary.

    • Toolkit

      RCPP Toolkit

      Coming in 2025

      Is your organization looking to utilize the Regional Conservation Partnership Program for easement acquisition? This toolkit includes an introduction to RCPP, step-by-step guidance on how to apply and information about receiving an award and how to navigate the agreement and acquisition process.

    Watch

    Trainings

    Available at no charge

    The Alliance is committed to partnering with NRCS to bring you informative and engaging trainings and webinars covering a variety of Farm Bill conservation program topics.

    Ongoing collaboration

    Working groups

    Focusing on specific ways to strengthen program participation, these groups have helped develop resources, inform training and led to policy improvements.

    Alliance-NRCS working groups are a direct outcome of the original 2018 Easements Summit. Since then, following each summit, working groups have been convened to address specific ways to continue to strengthen program participation. Groups have contributed to the development of resources, informed training and policy improvements. Past working group topics include:

    • Buy-Protect-Sell

    • Easement administration actions

    • Appraisal process

    • Agency and land trust capacity building

    Peer group

    ACEP-ALE Certified Entity Peer Group

    The ACEP-ALE Certified Entity Peer Group is a meeting space to connect with staff from other Alliance member certified land trusts to support one another in effectively participating in the ACEP-ALE program. Alliance member land trusts that are certified entities are welcome to join. The group initially met in December 2024 and will meet quarterly going forward.

    Contact Nikki Nesbary for more information

    Farm Bill Working Group

    The Farm Bill Working Group is comprised of hundreds of Alliance member land conservation practitioners who support the development of the Alliance’s Farm Bill policy recommendations. Through monthly meetings and ad-hoc specialized discussion groups, working group members provide input on implementing current Farm Bill programs such as ACEP-ALE and RCPP.

    Finding solutions

    Easement summits

    Strengthening collaboration and partnership between land trust practitioners and NRCS national staff.

    2018

    Inaugural summit

    • A first-of-its-kind event bringing together land trust leaders and NRCS national team members.

    • Strengthened communication between the agency and the land trust community.

    • Working groups established to strengthen program implementation.

    • New resources developed such as webinars, factsheets and the Alliance’s ACEP-ALE Toolkit.

    2022

    Second summit

    • NRCS, Alliance and other partners re-commit to developing capacity for supporting and tracking projects successfully from application to acquisition and closing. Leads to launch of Alliance NCAT team.

    • New working groups established to further strengthen ACEP-ALE program participation.

    • Multiple streamlining measures taken by NRCS including a new proactive approach to expanding the number of certified entities, increasing number of national appraisers and raising the threshold for review of appraisals.

    2024

    Third summit

    • Four-day summit expanded to cover both ACEP-ALE and RCPP entity-held easements

    • Resulted in commitment of NRCS, land trusts and Alliance to expand, update and share more resources and tools for further understanding and strengthening program implementation.

    • Alliance launched a peer forum for ACEP-ALE Certified Entities.

    • NRCS and Alliance NCAT staff began monthly coordinating meetings to share updates on program successes and support efficient resolution of application and acquisition questions.

    Learn more about the summits

    Our impact

    Read success stories of the conservation impact of NRCS programs.