The Wetland Reserve Program
In 1990, the United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA) Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Bill, also know as the
Farm Bill, introduced the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP), a voluntary cost-share
program designed to return some of the nations prior converted farmlands
back to their original wetland state. Under the WRP, private landowners
grant a permanent easement for their lands restored to wetland status,
in exchange for cash compensation as well as cost-share assistance for
the cost of practices used to restore wetland conditions. Only "farmed
wetlands" and "prior converted wetlands" are eligible for restoration under
the WRP. To be considered a prior converted wetland, an agricultural field
must have hydric soils and have been planted to an agricultural commodity
at least one year between 1981 and 1985.
More information about the WRP:
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