The USDA is making $12 million available for use in making payments to forest landowners with land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in exchange for their implementing healthy forest management practices.
Only landowners and agricultural producers with active CRP contracts involving forest cover can enroll. However, this does not include active CRP contracts that expire within two years. Existing CRP participants interested in tree thinning and prescribed burning must comply with the standards and specifications established in their CRP contract.
The incentive payments are the lower of the actual cost of completing the project or 75 percent of the payment rate offered by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) if the practice is provided through NRCS conservation programs. Currently, less than 10 percent of land currently enrolled in CRP is dedicated to forestland.
CRP signup begins Jan. 19, 2021, and the Farm Service Agency (FSA) will announce the deadline later this year. Interested producers should contact their local FSA office.
