By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The deadline for submitting proposals for a share of funding from the USDA’s Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program (WREP) is May 24.

Last month, $25 million in federal funding was announced by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack for the program, which seeks to restore, protect and enhance wetlands, said Michael McGovern, public affairs specialist for the Indiana Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Wildlife habitat improvement is also a part of the program.
WREP is available in every state and monies will be distributed based on the quality of the proposals, McGovern explained.
State and local governments, non-government organizations and Indian tribes are eligible to submit proposals, and are required to contribute a minimum of 5 percent of a project’s cost, he said. Individual landowners may not submit proposals.

“With all of the rain parts of the state had in 2008, interest in WREP has really grown,” he said. “The land was damaged and people got tired of fighting it.”

Indiana was successful early on in getting funding from WREP, which began as a pilot program six years ago, said Jane Hardisty, Indiana state conservationist.

“In 2004, WREP was piloted in Missouri and Minnesota,” she said in a statement. “Then, in 2005 the first WREP proposals in Indiana were accepted and implemented. We have experience that tells us this approach works in Indiana.”

In 2005, the Nature Conservancy partnered with WREP to restore and connect wetland habitats along the Wabash River in Fountain, Parke, Sullivan, Vigo, Vermillion and Warren counties, she said. Also that year, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) restored wetland habitats in the Limberlost and Loblolly areas of northeast Indiana.

NRCS officials in Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee said no WREP projects have been funded in their states to date. In 2006, a WREP project in the Grand River Watershed in northeast Ohio was approved, but did not go forward. Iowa’s NRCS has received WREP funding to enter into a 50-50 agreement with the state’s DNR to provide technical assistance on existing easements, said Jason Johnson, public affairs specialist for Iowa’s NRCS.

The 2008 Farm Bill authorizes the program to continue through 2013, but the amount of money budgeted for the program will be announced yearly, McGovern said.

“Groups such as Nature Conservancy or area SWCDs (Soil and Water Conservation Districts) will pool their resources if they know of something that will benefit people in their areas,” McGovern said. “There could be some great opportunities here.”

In order to have the best chance, proposals should have a high potential to achieve wetland restoration and improve wildlife habitat, McGovern noted. They will also need to significantly leverage non-federal financial and technical resources, and coordinate other local, state, tribal or federal efforts.

The proposals should also provide outreach to and participation of, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers and limited resource farmers, within the agreement area, he said.

Once the proposals are submitted, state officials will rank them and pass on those rankings to the head of the federal NRCS. The states should be notified within a couple months or so of the submission deadline which proposals were accepted.