WHIP (Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program) funds may be available to landowners in a partnership arrangement with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a division of the USDA. The NRCS may partner with as much as 75% funding for wildlife habitat improvement on some private lands. They may fund as much as 90% for certain critical habitat preservation.
There are three types of private lands eligible since the Farm Bill '02 was reworked last December: agricultural lands, non-industrial private forest lands, and tribal lands. Previously, these funds were not so restricted in their application. To clarify the non-industrial private forest lands specification, it refers to private forest lands that are generating income for the landowner, as do the agricultural lands. They must be income producing properties not owned by corporations or by the government.
The NRCS is asking for feedback from landowners on the new regulations provided since last December. In talking with the administrators in the NRCS, they are very ambiguous about the parameters that these new regulations imply. If you are interested in such matters, you can read more about it on the NRCS website.
Providing the hoops that the NRCS will require to be negotiated are not too difficult, this might be a way to help pay for habitat improvement on private lands. But, to date, these hoops are relatively undefined.
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