Money Available to Pennsylvania Landowners!!

From Amy N at LandmarkJCM:

Last week Mick and I attended a meeting hosted by the NRCS and USFWS regarding the new PA Bog Turtle Initiative associated with their existing “Wetlands Reserve Program”.

The PA Wetlands Reserve Program is a 15-year old program which receives its annual funding as part of the Farm Bill. The WRP is a landowner incentive program which places privately owned low-quality or degraded wetlands in a Conservation Easement that are then subject to wetland restoration and/or enhancement activities. The NRCS pays 100% for all restoration/enhancement activities, (as well as 100% of all closing costs/fees associated with placing the wetland under a CEA), and the landowner is also paid according to the attached payment schedule based on the type of activity and the type of easement; (There are 3 enrollment options: Permanent Easements, 30-year Easements, and “Restoration Only”; see attached sheets).

In order for a landowner to be eligible for enrollment into the program, they must have owned the property for at least 7 years. In order for a wetland to be eligible for enrollment, it must be “restorable” such as former or degraded wetlands, farmed wetlands, prior converted cropland, etc., and it must be a minimum of 10 acres in size.

The significance of the new PA Bog Turtle Initiative is that all of the above eligibility requirements for enrollment into the program are waived if the wetland contains Bog Turtles, or if the wetland is high quality potential Bog Turtle habitat within close proximity to a known Bog Turtle colony. In other words, landowners can now enroll wetlands into this “restoration” program if they have Bog Turtles, no matter how large it is and even if the wetland is already a high functioning wetland needing no restoration. PA is placing a high priority on enrolling privately owned wetlands that have Bog Turtles into the program and landowners will receive $3,900-$12,000/acre to enroll Bog Turtle wetlands, depending on which county they are in. The NRCS will monitor and maintain the wetland for Bog Turtles into the future, although it did not seem like at the meeting they had all of the details regarding monitoring and future funding for habitat maintence quite worked out yet.

PA has secured approximately 3.3 million dollars for 2010 for this program. However, PA’s fiscal year ends September 30^th and they do not anticipate receiving this much funding for the program in 2011 unless they can demonstrate that the program can be successful. So, their goal is to enroll as many private landowners with Bog Turtle wetlands as possible by September 1^st so that they can receive comparable funding for the program in 2011. We were invited to this meeting yesterday, along with a number of other consultants and PA Bog Turtle Surveyors, so that we will be able to spread the word to anyone we may know that has Bog Turtles in Southeast PA, and so we can speak knowledgably about the program to the public and to our clients.

If we know of anyone who may be interested in receiving money for placing their Bog Turtle wetlands into a Conservation Easement, we should have them contact Bonnie Dershem directly, immediately. I also have a packet with additional information about the program, including enrollment applications. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.