Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP)

WRP is a voluntary program to restore and protect wetlands on private property. It is an opportunity for landowners to receive financial incentives to enhance wetlands in exchange for retiring marginal agricultural land. Funding for this popular ongoing program has been extended through 2007.

Key Provisions:

• Allows land owners to choose permanent conservation easements, 30-year easements, or restoration cost-share agreements, for their eligible land;
• Ranks applications using a numerical points system designed to identify and select proposals that offer the greatest environmental benefits per program dollar;
• Provides landowners with 100% cost-sharing for permanent easements, 75% for 30-year easements, and 75% for restoration cost-share agreements;
• The land owner continues to control access to enrolled land and may develop or lease it for compatible uses.

Eligibility: 

Conservation easements require the participant to have owned the land for at least one year, unless it was inherited or it can be shown that it was not acquired for the purpose of enrolling it in the program. Restoration cost-share agreements only require that the participant show evidence of ownership. The land itself must be restorable and suitable for wildlife benefits. This includes:

• Farmed Wetlands and wetlands farmed under natural conditions;
• Prior converted cropland;
• Farmed wetland pasture;
• Farmland that has become a wetland as the result of flooding;
• Rangeland, pasture, or production forestland where the hydrology has been significantly Degraded and can be restored;
• Riparian areas which link protected wetlands;
• Lands adjacent to protected wetlands that contribute significantly to wetland functions and values; and,
• Previously restored wetlands.

How to apply:  For additional facts and information you can go to the National WRP website or check with your local USDA Service Center, or contact Karen Fullen, Program Manager at (801) 524-4566.

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