FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 19, 2010
For More Information Contact: Paige Buck, State Public Affairs Specialist, (217) 353.6606
                                                  Jody Christiansen, Public Affairs Specialist (217) 353.6627

New NRCS WRP Payment Process In Place

Champaign, IL—Illinois landowners interested in participating in the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) will be pleased to learn that the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced a new payment process is in place, that offers Illinois’ private landowners a simplified incentive payment process for securing long-term solutions that environmentally friendly and economical. NRCS State Conservationist Bill Gradle confirms the new available payment rates and application process makes enrolling into WRP quicker and offers sound financial incentives to establish easements.

Reauthorized in the 2008 Farm Bill, WRP is a voluntary program that offers landowners the opportunity to restore, enhance, and protect wetlands on their agricultural lands. NRCS provides technical and financial support to help landowners with their wetland restoration efforts. The minimum enrollment is 20 acres.

“I think when landowners see the price and the payment they can get per acre, and they compare that to the limited yields and inputs it takes to plant and harvest a crop on frequently flooded or wet, marginally productive cropland, they’ll have all the information they need to take advantage of what the Wetlands Reserve Program has to offer,” Gradle explains.

The three options under WRP include:

• A 30-year easement
• A perpetual or permanent easement
• Restoration easement only

By selling a WRP easement, landowners receive a lump sum cash payment in exchange for restoring or converting marginal agricultural land to wetland areas on land they have owned for the previous seven years. They also agree to maintain areas protected by WRP easements.

NRCS’ goal is to restore the greatest wetland functions and values, along with optimum wildlife habitat on every acre enrolled in the program. WRP easement offers will be based on the easement rate cap for that region, or the landowner’s offer, whichever is lowest.

In addition, Illinois NRCS has updated WRP easement rate caps and its ranking form. Rates range from $2,800 to $4,400 per acre. See WRP map for counties in each designated region. This map and other program information can be viewed online: www.il.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/wrp_ewp/wrp_index.html

To sign up or get more information about WRP or other NRCS programs, contact the NRCS office serving your county.

[For a larger image, click on map]

Photo caption: 2010 IL NRCS Geographic Area Rate Caps for Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP). Rate caps are based on regional location in the state and an up-to-date market analysis. To learn more, visit www.il.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/wrp_ewp/wrp_index.html

 

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