The investment breaks down as follows:
- Approximate total of $210 million from the USDA’s Forest Service (FS), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Interior Department, State of California, non-profit organizations and private landowners.
Along with the partnership, the USDA is making $13.7 million available to California farmers and ranchers through the NRCS’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), and another $6 million for communities struggling with drought via the Emergency Community Water Assistance Grants.
"As several years of historic drought continue to plague parts of the Western United States, there is a significant opportunity and responsibility across federal, state and private lands to protect and improve the landscapes that generate our most critical water supplies," said Vilsack. "Healthy forests and meadows play a key role in ensuring water quality, yield and reliability throughout the year."
The government’s investment will work together with California Governor Jerry Brown’s Water Action Plan – that will see about $81 million devoted to restoring the ecosystem in the Sierra Nevada.
In May, USDA set aside $21 million through EQIP for farmers and ranchers to use scientific methods to come up with ways to minimize the drought’s impact on a short and long-term scale. Of the original amount, $13.7 million is being reserved specifically for farmers.
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