The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP)

The New Look of CREP
(845 KB .pdf file - Opens with Acrobat Reader)

The Maryland CREP
Cost-Share Benefits & Practice Incentive Payments
(823 KB .pdf file - Opens with Acrobat Reader)

CREP - Summary of Practices and Payments
(106 KB .pdf file - Opens with Acrobat Reader)

What is CREP?
The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, (CREP), is a voluntary, incentive-based federal program that pays farmers and farm landowners attractive incentives for putting their least productive lands into conservation practices that benefit wildlife, improve water quality, and conserve soil.

Under CREP, farmers place a portion of their farm under a 10 or 15 year contract that requires the land to be put into the conservation cover the farmer chooses. Farmers can establish forest, native warm-season grasses, or cool season grasses. In return the farmer receives cost-share, annual rental payments, and generous bonus payments.

Why CREP?
(CREP) grew out of increasing recognition that wetlands and lands adjacent to streams (riparian areas) and other water bodies have a tremendous impact on water quality and provide critical wildlife habitat. These important conservation areas can be protected and restored in many ways.

In 1997, the U.S. Department of Agriculture joined forces with the State of Maryland to improve upon USDA's long standing Conservation Reserve Program by focusing on buffer establishment, wetland restoration, and retiring highly erodible agricultural lands adjacent to water bodies that drain into the Chesapeake Bay.

Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay restoration strategy relies upon the establishment of stream buffers and the protection of wetlands to achieve water quality improvements in the Bay. And CREP is the voluntary, non-regulatory financial engine that enables landowners help to reach that goal on their farm.

Landowners can also receive up to 87.5% reimbursement for cost of installation of conservation practices, such as riparian forest or vegetative buffer planting, or retirement of highly erodible lands and 50% reimbursement for wetlands. The contract agreement lasts for 10 to 15 years. In addition, landowners can sign a conservation easement and receive an additional bonus payment in exchange for an agreement to retain the conservation practices in perpetuity.

How can landowners participate in this program?
First, landowners should contact their local FSA or Soil Conservation District (SCD) Office to find out if their land meets CREP contract eligibility requirements. Generally, agricultural land (crop land or pasture) adjacent to perennial or intermittent waterways, certain highly erodible lands within 1,000 feet of a waterway, and prior converted wetlands qualify for the program. Local DNR foresters and wildlife biologists can also help enroll participants.

Once a landowner has signed up for the contract, he or she can also choose to begin working with a local partner to execute the CREP easement and receive an additional one-time payment. Information about the easement is available through the local SCD office or local land trust. Partnerships to deliver the easement component of the CREP have been developed between DNR and a number of local land trust organizations. Participants can also enter the CREP program in conjunction with Rural Legacy, Maryland Agricultural and Preservation Foundation (MALPF) or donated easement programs such as Maryland Environmental Trust (MET). In this case, the landowner can initiate easement discussions and then be referred by the land trust organization or local sponsor to the SCD to concurrently execute a CREP contract.

Eligible Lands
Only farmland (cropland hayfields, or marginal pastureland) is eligible for CREP. Land must have been planted to an agricultural commodity for at least four years between 1996 and 2001. In addition, eligible farmland must be:

• adjacent to a stream or other water body OR;

• Highly erodible lands (erodibility index greater than 16) within 1,000 feet of a stream or water body OR;

• Prior converted wetlands or areas capable of supporting wetland hydrology OR:

• Within a landscape that supports a unique natural ecosystem.

Planting & Maintenance Requirements
All lands enrolled in CREP must be planted in approved mixes of trees and/or grasses and maintained as permanent cover for the life of the contract. Haying or grazing of CREP lands will not be allowed except in extreme cases of great national need.

• Wetlands can be managed as shallow water areas or restored as a natural wetland.

• An upland buffer around the wetland can be included in the wetland boundary.

Maintenance practices, such as mowing, may be required. Control of noxious weeds will be required.

How can I benefit from CREP?
Landowners enrolled in CREP are paid an annual soil rental rate AND an annual bonus. Participants can choose to plant a streamside forest or a grass buffer or wetland Higher incentives are paid for streamside forests because of the broad array of habitat and water quality benefits they provide. Payments are made yearly for the life of the contract.

Used in conjunction with nutrient management and sediment and erosion control practices, streamside forests can benefit you and your stream through:

• Providing a dependable income to the owner

• Removing nutrients and sediment from shallow groundwater and surface water

• Reducing pesticide and herbicide spray drift and runoff to steams

• Providing important habitat for aquatic life, birds, and small game

• Supporting recreational hunting and fishing opportunities

What about an easement?
Landowners enrolled in CREP can sell an easement on their land directly to the state or through local land trusts. Easement payments are based on the fair market value of foregone development and agricultural productivity costs.