# Conservation Technical Assistance Program: Purpose

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The Conservation Technical Assistance Program (CTA) provides land users with one-on-one advice, proven conservation technologies and the delivery system needed to achieve the benefits of a healthy and productive landscape.

## Primary Purposes

The primary purposes of the CTA program are to:
              - Reduce soil loss from erosion
              - Solve soil, water quality, water conservation, air quality, and agricultural waste management problems
              - Reduce potential damage caused by excess water and sedimentation or drought
              - Enhance the quality of fish and wildlife habitat
              - Improve the long-term land sustainability
              - Assist others in facilitating changes in land use as needed for natural resource protection and sustainability

## Primary Objectives

The primary objectives of the CTA program are to:
              - Assist individuals or groups of decision makers, communities, conservation districts, units of State and local government, tribes, and others to voluntarily conserve, maintain, and improve natural resources.
              - Provide community, watershed, and area-wide technical assistance in collaboration with local units of government, to develop and implement resource management plans that conserve, maintain and improve natural resources.
              - Assist agricultural producers with complying with the  Highly Erodible Land (HEL)  and Wetland (Swampbuster) Conservation Compliance Provisions.
              - Assist decision-makers to comply with Federal, State, tribal, and local environmental regulations and related requirements, and to prepare them to become eligible to participate in other conservation programs.
              - Provide soils information and interpretation to individuals or groups of decision makers, communities, States, and others to aid  decision making with regards to management of soil resources.
              - Collect, analyze, interpret, display, and disseminate information about the status, condition, and trend of soil, water, and related natural resources so that customers can make informed decisions for natural resource use and management.
              - Assess the effects of conservation practices and systems on the condition of natural resources.  

##   Related Pages

Conservation Technical Assistance
Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) provides our nation’s farmers, ranchers and forestland owners with the knowledge and tools they need to conserve, maintain and restore the natural resources on their lands and improve t...

### Conservation Technical Assistance Program: How it Works

The CTA program works through a voluntary conservation network that fosters partnership between NRCS, conservation districts, state conservation agencies, and millions of private landowners.

### Conservation Technical Assistance: Benefits

Seven out of every ten acres of our Nation's land is privately owned. Helping farmers, ranchers and forestland owners improve the health of their working lands helps protect our natural resources while helping to ensure the longevity of American agriculture.