Technical & Financial Support

Additional staff members were contracted to provide NRCS field offices assistance with a range of tasks including greeting customers, general office administration, NRCS-producer contracts support, and outreach and education of NRCS programs to producers and districts.

Contracted professionals provide technical support to assist with cultural resource surveys, field surveys, inventories and data collection, GIS mapping, GPS, conservation plan writing, and specifications associated with NRCS program requirements.

In a statewide effort to help producers and NRCS get conservation dollars on the ground, Arizona's Conservation Districts and AACD took the lead in hiring contractors to provide technical assistance to Conservation Districts in order to support local NRCS field offices in completing cultural resource surveys. This has been made possible through Conservation District funding, Technical Assistance grants from the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and NRCS, and a Community Investment Grant from South32, a mining and metals company. This grant supports annual access to AZSITE for Tribal government cultural resources personnel. This helps to get conservation practices on the ground.

Conservation Districts play a crucial role when natural resource disasters hit, and their response to Arizona's dangerous fire seasons over the past few years is a prime example of what the Districts can do for Arizona. The Fire Recovery Program began in November 2021 when the Districts responded to the devastating Mescal & Telegraph Fires. Through multiple partner programs, AACD has been able to cultivate funds to help producers and private landowners rebuild infrastructure and heal the land that was destroyed by wildfires since July 2020. We provide Program Management, Technical Support, and Administration.