The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) was a

voluntary Voluntary may refer to: * Voluntary (music) * Voluntary or volunteer, person participating via volunteering/volunteerism * Voluntary muscle contraction See also * Voluntary action * Voluntariness, in law and philosophy * Voluntaryism Volunt ...

program offering

landowners In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land "owned" by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individuals ...

the opportunity to protect, restore, and enhance

wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

on their property. The

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commerc ...

Natural Resources Conservation Service Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and ...

(NRCS) administers the program with funding from the

Commodity Credit Corporation The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) is a wholly owned United States government corporation that was created in 1933 to "stabilize, support, and protect farm income and prices" (federally chartered by the CCC Charter Act of 1948 (P.L. 80-806) ...

. The Agricultural Act of 2014 established the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). ACEP repealed WRP but does not affect the validity or terms of any WRP contract, agreement or easement entered into prior to the date of enactment on February 7, 2014 or any associated payments required to be made in connection with an existing WRP contract, agreement or easement. Codified at 16 USC 3865 et seq.

Establishment

The WRP was established by the 1990

Farm Bill In the United States, the farm bill is a comprehensive omnibus bill that is the primary agricultural and food policy instrument of the federal government. Congress typically passes a new farm bill every five to six years.Johnson, R. and Monke, ...

. The 1990 Farm Bill was Senate Bill S.2830 and became Public Law No: 101-624. Amendment S.AMDT.2406 (sponsored by Senator Robert Kasten) added provisions to the program. The WRP was repealed in 2014 via the Agriculture Act of 2014, Subtitle B. https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/2642/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22agricultural+act+of+2014%22%2C%22agricultural%22%2C%22act%22%2C%22of%22%2C%222014%22%5D%7D&r=1&s=10

Provisions

Producers enrolling in the program must agree to implement approved wetland restoration and protection plans. In return, participating producers receive payments based on the difference in the value of their land caused by placing an easement on a portion of it. The program reached its authorized enrollment ceiling of before the

2002 farm bill The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, also known as the 2002 Farm Bill, includes ten titles, addressing a great variety of issues related to agriculture, ecology, energy, trade, and nutrition. This act has been superseded by the 2 ...

(P.L. 107-171) was acted upon. The 2002 legislation reauthorized the program with mandatory funding from the

(CCC) through FY2007, and set a maximum enrollment ceiling of 2.275 million acres (and with an annual enrollment ceiling of 250,000 acres).

References

External links

Wetlands Reserve Program of the Natural Resources Conservation Service
USDA {{Wetlands United States Department of Agriculture Wetlands of the United States