USDA NRCS Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA)

Free conservation planning and technical assistance from NRCS field staff for landowners, watershed groups, and municipalities. Provides resource assessments, conservation plans, BMP design, and engineering for soil, water, and habitat work.

USDA NRCS Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) is the federal government's longest-running and largest free conservation advisory service. NRCS field offices in every Pennsylvania county — and equivalents in WV, MD, OH, and NY — provide one-on-one technical help to private landowners, watershed groups, conservation districts, and units of local government.For watershed-focused work, CTA staff develop site-specific conservation plans (which become the gateway document for cost-share programs like EQIP and CSP), design agricultural and stormwater best management practices, assess streambank stability, plan riparian forest buffers, and provide engineering support for restoration structures like grade stabilization, livestock crossings, and wetland berms. CTA is also the typical entry point for any farmer or landowner wanting to enroll in NRCS cost-share programs — the conservation plan is required, and CTA provides it free.Watershed groups can partner with NRCS field staff on landowner outreach in priority watersheds. The PA NRCS state office and the SWCD (conservation district) network are the two organizations Pope's network should already be on a first-name basis with for any project that touches private agricultural land.