Why a "WRP" Wetland?

Yes! You've already decided to restore a field to its historically wetland condition, and you've asked the NRCS to assist. The federally-funded Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) may be the way to go in getting the funding and technical expertise for design, operation, and maintenance for your wetland.

Harold L. Klaege, State Conservationist for the NRCS in Kansas, has announced the signup cutoff date of March 1, 2007, for the WRP. The program is continuous, but applications need to be received by the cutoff date to be considered for the Fiscal Year 2007 funding allocation of $1.2 million.

Kansas landowners have enrolled 148 sites with 14,178 acres in an easement or restoration agreement. Will your site be the next one? Here are some things to consider:

Plants and Animals

A restored wetland will provide habitat for many plant and animal species that have not survived the degradation of the previous wetland. A restored wetland will improve the conditions for feeding, migration, breeding, nesting, loafing, and cover protection. A restored wetland will provide a great opportunity for your family to watch wildlife, and may also provide a wonderful hunting location for you, the owner.

Why a Wetland?

President Bush has called for "No net loss of wetlands." The President and Congress see the value of wetlands in the United States by keeping our Nation's environment healthy. Wetlands can help lessen the damages due to flooding, improve water quality, reduce sedimentation, and assist with groundwater recharge. Wetland restoration can improve a degraded wetland that has been very difficult to farm reversing the trend of wetland loss.

Feasibility

The first step will be for you to invite NRCS out to your site to evaluate the feasibility of wetland restoration. NRCS will be looking for things like the existence of clayey soils, adequate drainage area, and the history of the site. Once a wetland is restored through the WRP, production farming will not be allowed on that site.

WRP Land Eligibility

For land to be eligible for the WRP, generally it must have been owned by you for at least one year, had previous wetlands drained or altered, be adjacent to restorable wetlands, or be a wetland already with a need for protection.

WRP Contract Length

The WRP has the advantage of allowing the landowner to choose the number of years of involvement. You can choose a 10-year restoration agreement, 30-year easement duration, or permanent easement duration. For the 30-year and permanent easements, NRCS will pay the administrative costs of securing an actual easement. Easement payments made to landowners are 75 percent for 30 years and 100 percent for permanent. The value for the payment is determined by an appraisal, landowner offer, or geographic area cap whichever is less.

Cost-Share Funds

NRCS will pay for 75 percent of the cost of constructing the wetland for a restoration agreement and for the 30-year easement and 100 percent for the permanent easement. What the WRP does not pay can be covered by personal funds, or you may also be able to get additional cost-share assistance from other public or private agencies or organizations. To be eligible for cost-share funds, the landowner must sign up separately for each specific program.

Enrolling

The WRP requires the landowner to meet with NRCS personnel to review eligibility requirements, sign an application form, provide a copy of the deed, and select an easement compensation amount (if 30-year or permanent option is selected). Next, an NRCS representative visits the site, does a cost estimate, and completes a ranking sheet with the landowner's input. Then all of the potential WRP sites signed up in Kansas are comparatively ranked with the highest ranked sites getting funded first with the program's available dollars.

Legal Survey

NRCS pays for a legal survey of the enrolled site to assure ownership and boundaries. NRCS will also install the WRP boundary posts with signs to mark and protect the site.

Design

NRCS engineers or technicians will design the wetland utilizing the advice of the landowner and biologists from other agencies. Detailed drawings and specifications will be provided. NRCS will assist the landowner in obtaining the proper permits required by other agencies in order to begin construction.

Construction

Restoring a wetland site usually requires earthwork, a pipe, a water control structure, grass planting, and perhaps fencing and tree planting. Generally, a low-level embankment is constructed to catch runoff water, spring flow, and rainfall in order to simulate historic wet conditions. Excavation for borrow material is required to provide the earthfill material which is used to construct the low-level embankment. The water control structure varies the water level for wildlife management. Grass protects the embankment from rainfall erosion.

Contractor

A conservation land improvement contractor will construct the wetland. Landowners with 10-year restoration agreements or 30-year easements will select a contractor. Upon completion of restoration work, NRCS will reimburse the landowner 75 percent of the restoration costs. On permanent easements, NRCS will select the contractor through a bidding process. NRCS will inspect and ensure quality of construction.

WRP Landowner Rights

In the WRP, the landowner remains the property owner even after enrolling the land in the program. The landowner still has the final say on who can set foot on the site. The landowner has the rights to hunt, trap, fish, and enjoy the wildlife. More opportunities are allotted to the landowner if permissions are specifically requested from and approved by NRCS, such as harvesting timber, haying, or grazing (if advantageous to the wetland and wildlife).

WRP Landowner Responsibilities

The landowner continues to pay property taxes on the site, but at the grassland rate. Noxious weeds must be controlled according to state law. Permissions must be requested to perform operations on the site that are not already spelled out in the contract. Operation of the wetland will be handled by NRCS.

The WRP Advantage

The big advantage of the WRP is that NRCS will take care of, and pay for, 100 percent of the maintenance of the wetlands with easements. No other program will give this promise. Every wetland will require maintenance, the cost and extent of which will increase with time. Maintenance may entail burning, disking, mowing, harvesting trees, dredging out sedimentation, pipe or water control structure replacement, earth fill and compaction, re-seeding, dealing with beavers, and replacement or repair of rodent guards and trash racks. Maintenance costs can easily exceed the cost of construction as time goes by. With the WRP, the landowner does not get stuck with the maintenance bill. NRCS pays 100 percent of these costs. If the landowner desires a wetland to last forever and wants the maintenance to be paid by NRCS entirely, the permanent easement is the way to go. For wildlife and hunting enthusiasts, the permanent easement is the big advantage exclusive to the WRP.

Interested?

If you are interested in a wetland site restoration, schedule an appointment with the closest NRCS office located in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Service Center. There's probably a wetland close to you that already has been built with NRCS's assistance that we could show you. The WRP funds are available on a year-by-year basis, as are most other cost-share options. What are you waiting for? Call today while the financial assistance is still available!

Last Modified: 01/05/2007