Conservation Technical Assistance

NACD's mission is to serve conservation districts by providing national leadership and a unified voice for natural resource conservation.

The Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) program provides technical capabilities to apply conservation practices on the land. Technical assistance and support is provided to a variety of customers including agricultural producers, land owners, managers.

By utilizing CTA, greater adoption of conservation practices is accomplished by landowners seeking to be good stewards of their natural resources. CTA is often used to prepare land and landowners for participation in financial assistance programs. However, there remains a strong demand for technical assistance from land owners not seeking financial assistance from cost share or incentive programs. These are often land owners seeking assistance to plan, design and implement conservation practices on their property.

CTA is administered by the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) under the Department of Agriculture.

Funding Distribution
CTA funds are distributed through NRCS Conservation Operations account in the Agriculture Appropriations Bill. The Conservation Operations account includes CTA, the snow survey, the soil survey, the grazing lands conservation initiative, the plant material centers, and computer and information technology support for all NRCS computers. CTA funds are also used for NRCS staff to enter into cost-share agreements with state and local agencies including conservation districts. They allow local, state and federal resources to be maximized and allow the most efficient delivery of conservation programs. Funding for this program remains critically low.

NACD supports increased funding for the NRCS Conservation Operations account through the Fiscal Year 2009 Agriculture Appropriations Bill.

FY 2007 Final
$763,000

FY 2008 Final
$840,326

FY 2009 President’s Budget
$794,773

FY 2009 NACD Recommendation
$888,890