Section 1240H of the Food Security Act of 1985, as added by Section 2509 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-246) established Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) as part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) [16 U.S.C.
3839aa-8].
Through CIG,
the Secretary of Agriculture may pay the cost of competitive grants to carry out projects that stimulate innovative approaches to leveraging Federal investment in environmental enhancement and protection in conjunction with agricultural production.
The Secretary of Agriculture delegated the authority for the administration of EQIP and CIG to the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), who is a vice president of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC).
EQIP is administered by NRCS under the authorities of the CCC.
This notice announces the availability of up to $250,000 of CCC funds during fiscal year 2009 for the State of Idaho Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program.
Grants to eligible entities and individuals may not exceed a maximum of $75,000 each.
The State Conservationist reserves the right to not fund any or all proposals.
These funds are in addition to up to $20 million dollars of CCC funds that may be available for application from the national CIG grants program.
For information about the national CIG grants program, visit:
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/CIG/.
The Idaho funds will be awarded through a statewide competitive grants process.
Applications are requested from eligible government or non-government organizations or individuals for competitive consideration of grant awards for single or multi-year projects.
This notice sets forth the applicant and project eligibility requirements, application procedures, and grant award criteria for proposed projects.