America's Wetlands Provide Healthy Habitat for Wildlife

April 28, 2005

George M. Sutton/Cornell Lab of Ornithology

USDA is contributing a total of $5.2 million to create, restore and enhance the wildlife habitat of the Ivory-billed woodpecker through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) and Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP). Conservation activities will involve using vegetative and structural practices to support the proper habitat for the woodpecker’s diet and breeding.

The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) is a voluntary program that offers landowners an opportunity to restore, enhance and protect wetlands through permanent easements, 30-year easements and restoration cost-share agreements. USDA’s goal is to maximize wildlife habitat and wetland functions and values on every acre enrolled in the program. WRP currently has 1,627,174 acres enrolled and NRCS projects it will enroll an additional 154,500 acres by the end of the 2005 fiscal year. Presently, Arkansas has enrolled 87,196 acres of habitat in six counties through WRP, which include and surround the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge.

The Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) is a voluntary program for producers who want to develop and improve wildlife habitat primarily on private land. Through WHIP, NRCS provides both technical assistance and up to 75 percent cost-share assistance to establish and improve fish and wildlife habitat. WHIP agreements between NRCS and the participant generally last from 5 to 10 years from the date the agreement is signed. WHIP has proven to be a highly effective and widely accepted program across the country. By targeting wildlife habitat projects on all lands and aquatic areas, WHIP provides assistance to conservation minded landowners who are unable to meet the specific eligibility requirements of other USDA conservation programs. Arkansas has 6,233 acres presently enrolled in WHIP for these six counties.

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a voluntary program for agricultural landowners that provides annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource conserving covers on eligible farmland. The program has multiple options for restoring and protecting wetland acres, and it establishes a permanent cover on eligible environmentally sensitive cropland and marginal pasture land (including cropped wetlands) through long-term rental contracts with agricultural landowners. A total of 34,819,557 acres are enrolled in CRP nationally. The Farm Service Agency will provide $2.7 million this year for hardwood planting on nearly 18,000 acres.