The Conservation Assessment Ranking Tool (CART), developed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), is a tool that helps simplify the application and conservation plan delivery process for planners and producers.
How Does CART Work?
Planners use CART to assess a client’s conservation planning request by evaluating resource concerns, planned practices, and site vulnerability, while also ranking the client’s request for assistance in multiple funding pools for NRCS program funding consideration. All financial assistance programs are integrated within the tool, so landowners will need one application and one contract, regardless of program.
To start a CART assessment, field staff will select land units for evaluation and complete a base land inventory. CART will use a geospatial analysis to identify resource concerns and vulnerabilities. Together, the landowner and conservation planner will identify which conservation strategies to pursue and select which ranking pools they are most interested in to be evaluated for funding.
CART Features and Updates
CART pulls geospatial and soil data to determine site-specific risk thresholds for each resource concern. This data, combined with the conservation planner’s land inventory, helps develop a more full picture of conservation needs. Learn more about the data, reports, and new features available in CART in the videos below.
