Skip to main content
 
  • Click to open or close the program search boxShow Me Programs
    • Show me the programs that are
      performing Go
    • Show me the programs that are
      not performing Go
ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
 
Program Assessment

Program

View Assessment Details

Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program

The purpose of Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) is to create and improve wildlife habitat. WHIP activities include developing upland wildlife habitat; restoring wetland wildlife habitat; and enhancing habitat for priority, declining, or threatened and endangered species.

Rating

What This Rating Means

PERFORMING
Adequate

This rating describes a program that needs to set more ambitious goals, achieve better results, improve accountability or strengthen its management practices.
  • The Natural Resources Conservation Service has improved its management of WHIP. Since WHIP was first assessed in 2002, it has: (1) adopted recommendations issued by internal and external oversight teams; (2) created new allocation and performance incentive formulas; and (3) instituted new software to track program activities and evaluate and rank applications.
  • The program has developed long-term and annual outcome-oriented performance measures for the program. WHIP has made progress in meeting its annual targets and its long-term performance goal of improving habitat for prioritized species.
  • WHIP overlaps with other Federal, state, and private wildlife habitat restoration and creation programs. WHIP's efforts to target Federal trust species is a duplication of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's programs.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Developing a National WHIP Plan to identify key priority species and habitats.
  • Improving WHIP management by identifying national program priorities, standardizing the application selection and ranking process, and conducting an independent review of the allocation formula.
  • Emphasizing performance in WHIP national guidance and allocation process to ensure conservation practices are installed as planned on a timely basis and priority species and habitats are targeted.

Learn More
The content on ExpectMore.gov is developed by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and Federal agencies.