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Has your county signed on? |
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3/11/02
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What is CREP and why is it important to Wisconsin’s waters and farmland?
CREP provides a total of $240 million ($5 of federal funding for every $1 of state funding) to invest in agricultural practices that improve water quality and establish grasslands.
The goals of the program include reducing nutrient runoff pollution by 10 percent and reducing sediment runoff pollution by 15 percent, establishing riparian buffers on 50 percent of stream miles in the project area, and establishing 10 percent more grassland habitat.
Funded clean water and grassland practices include filter strips, riparian buffers, grassed waterways, wetland restorations, ecosystem restoration and grassland improvements.
Counties administer CREP contracts and provide
technical assistance to landowners. From October 2000 to September 2004,
$8.8 million in state funds were allocated to counties to provide staffing
through the Priority Watershed Program and the Soil and Water Resource
Management Program.
Who is eligible to receive CREP funds?
Through the end of March 2002, fifty-one counties with highly erodible lands can sign up with the state to make CREP funding available to landowners in eligible parts of the county.
Counties must develop a contract with the state in order to make funding for these practices available. (See attached list of counties).
On CREP-eligible lands, counties can offer generous
financial incentives to landowners who enter into 15-year contracts or
conservation easements.
What is the status of CREP?
As of February 28, 2002, only 39 of 51 eligible
counties have signed up to offer CREP funds. Some counties have declined
to offer CREP altogether; others are still negotiating with the Department
of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection. If a county declines
CREP funds, the state may lose funds or may trade eligibility to other
lands.
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Counties in Negotiation
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This fact sheet was produced by the Clean Water Campaign, through generous funding from the Beldon Fund. For more information, contact Steph Adams at 608-441-8411 or cleanwater@wisconsinrivers.org