MONROE - The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service is seeking applications from Wisconsin landowners for its Wetlands Reserve Program.
Jason Thomas, Green County District Conservationist for NRCS, said applications will be ranked for possible funding this year.
"In the past three years, Green and Lafayette Counties have closed 18 easements," Thomas said. "WRP is a great opportunity for many landowners, particularly farmers who are thinking of retiring but don't want to sell the land, or those who are interested in establishing some prime wildlife habitat."
WRP provides financial incentives to help farmers restore cultivated areas that were once wetlands and make them fully functioning wetlands again. WRP allows landowners to sell an easement and restore the wetland, which may relieve some financial pressures many farmers are facing. An additional benefit of putting ground in WRP has been that landowners no longer have to worry about planting a crop on land that is often too wet to harvest.
Thomas said that any land that was originally wetland but was drained for cropping is eligible. Cropland as well as some non-cropped areas may be enrolled in the program as long as the drainage - usually ditches or tile drainage systems - are removed. Those interested may apply for either a permanent easement, which pays landowners 100 percent of the appraised agricultural land value, a 30-year easement which pays 75 percent, or a 10-year contract, which offers cost-sharing for the restoration work.
More information is available by calling the NRCS at (608) 325-4195, or visiting www.wi.nrcs.usda.gov.
Jason Thomas, Green County District Conservationist for NRCS, said applications will be ranked for possible funding this year.
"In the past three years, Green and Lafayette Counties have closed 18 easements," Thomas said. "WRP is a great opportunity for many landowners, particularly farmers who are thinking of retiring but don't want to sell the land, or those who are interested in establishing some prime wildlife habitat."
WRP provides financial incentives to help farmers restore cultivated areas that were once wetlands and make them fully functioning wetlands again. WRP allows landowners to sell an easement and restore the wetland, which may relieve some financial pressures many farmers are facing. An additional benefit of putting ground in WRP has been that landowners no longer have to worry about planting a crop on land that is often too wet to harvest.
Thomas said that any land that was originally wetland but was drained for cropping is eligible. Cropland as well as some non-cropped areas may be enrolled in the program as long as the drainage - usually ditches or tile drainage systems - are removed. Those interested may apply for either a permanent easement, which pays landowners 100 percent of the appraised agricultural land value, a 30-year easement which pays 75 percent, or a 10-year contract, which offers cost-sharing for the restoration work.
More information is available by calling the NRCS at (608) 325-4195, or visiting www.wi.nrcs.usda.gov.