Specifications include, but are not limited to: Projects should focus on the following areas: • Areas eligible for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), Alternative Funding Arrangement (AFA) (see Attachment D). Specifically: o Upper elevation native forests that receive the most rainfall and are critical to recharging fresh water supplies1 o Lands with the highest potential carbon sequestration if reforested23 o Sites that are part of a landscape-scale watershed management strategy to lessen the impacts from climate change, reduce flooding and erosion into coral reefs, and protect biological diversity. This is the third round of a Request For Proposal solicitation. Projects that received funding in the previous rounds were generally large, landscape-scale projects covering hundreds or thousands of acres, and/or many thousands of native plantings. Protection of predominantly native areas, especially areas that are or will be under a high-level of protection (i.e.: fenced), is prioritized due to the threat of conversion to alien forests if they are not managed. This generally results in the loss of their recharge function and an increase in runoff. Once this happens, these forests and their watershed values are difficult or costly to restore
