125 East Erie St.
	Painesville OH 44077
	Phone: (440)350-2730 Fax: (440)350-2601
	soil@lakecountyohio.org

USDA Programs

Conservation Reserve Program

   The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) reduces soil erosion, protects the Nation's ability to produce food and fiber, reduces sedimentation in streams and lakes, improves water quality, establishes wildlife habitat, and enhances forest and wetland resources.  It encourages farmers to convert highly erodeable cropland or other environmentally sensitive acreage to vegetative cover, such as tame or native grasses, wildlife plantings, trees, filter strips, or riparian buffers.  Farmers receive an annual rental payment for the term of the multi-year contract.  Cost sharing is provided to establish the vegetative cover practices.

Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program

     The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) provides a flexible and cost-effective means to address agricultural resource problems by targeting Federal and State resources to specific geographic regions of particular environmental sensitivity over a 10- to 15-year period for the Conservation Reserve Program.

The primary objectives of CREP are: (1) to create an opportunity where the resources of a State government and the CRP can be targeted in a coordinated manner to address specific conservation and environmental objectives of that State and the Nation; and (2) to improve water quality, erosion control, and wildlife habitat in specific geographic areas which have been adversely impacted by agricultural activities, with emphasis on addressing non-point source water pollution and habitat restoration in a cost-effective manner.

Wetlands Reserve Program

     The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) is a voluntary program to restore wetlands and protect streamside areas.  Landowners are offered a cash payment to enroll a portion of their land into a conservation easement.  Landowners in Lake County have received payments from $800 to $1500 per acre.  Qualifying lands included land adjacent to streams and cropland that had wetland characteristics before it was drained.

     This program allows the landowner to maintain compatible uses of the property including hunting, fishing and timber management while protecting the property from urban development.  No cropping, pasturing, or construction activities are allowed within the easement area.

     Landowners may also receive 100% cost share assistance to restore the easement area such as tree planting expenses.

Farm and Ranchland Protection Program

     The Farm and Ranchland Protection Program provides funds to state, tribal, or local government entities to help purchase development rights to keep productive farmland in agricultural use.  Working through their existing programs, USDA joins with State, tribal, or local governments to acquire conservation easements or other interests from landowners.  USDA provides up to 50 percent of the costs of purchasing the easements.  To qualify, farmland must:   be part of a pending offer from a State, tribe, or local farmland protection program; be privately owned; have a conservation plan; be large enough to sustain agricultural production; be accessible to markets for what the land produces; have adequate infrastructure and agricultural support services; and have surrounding parcels of land that can support long-term agricultural production.

Western Reserve Resource Conservation & Development Council

     The Western Reserve Resource Conservation & Development Council (RC&D) is a nonprofit organization made up of 27 members representing the following nine counties in Northeast Ohio:   Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, Summit, and Wayne.   Council members consist of a County Commissioner, Soil and Water Conservation District board member, and a general Member-at-Large from each of the nine counties.   The RC&D Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's NRCS, which provides administrative and technical assistance through a part-time coordinator.  

     The purpose of the Western Reserve RC&D is to promote the conservation, development and utilization of natural resources to improve the general level of economic activity, and to enhance the environment and the standard of living in the nine county areas.  Programs are natural resource based, and they work toward achieving a balance between conservation and development.