USDA Program Provides Alternatives for Flood-Prone Bottomland

August 13, 2008

Farmers can retire frequently-flooded, river bottom farmland through the Emergency Watershed Protection—Floodplain Easement Program (EWP-FPE), according to Rich Sims, state conservationist for the US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Iowa.

Federal funds are available to purchase permanent easements and pay for restoration of wetlands.

Riverine floodplains, damaged by flooding within the past year or at least two times during the last 10 years, are eligible for the program. Crop history is not a consideration for eligibility, but cropland fields do receive a higher score during the ranking process. Upland may be included in the easement area, but can’t exceed 50 percent of the total enrollment area.

Once an application is accepted for a potential contact, NRCS will extend the landowner an easement compensation offer. This is a set amount and is non-negotiable. NRCS provides landowners several weeks to consider the offer. Once the landowner accepts the offer, it may take up to a year for NRCS to record the easement and make the land value payment.

Landowners retain several property rights after the land is placed under easement. These include control access and undeveloped recreational uses like hunting. The landowner must pay all property and other assessed taxes. NRCS acquires the authority to limit or restrict all other land uses.

Restoration work under EWP-FPE includes seeding native plant communities, plugging drainage ditches, breaking tile lines, breaking diversions and breaching flood control levees. .

For more information on EWP-FPE please contact your local NRCS office or go to www.ia.nrcs.usda.gov.

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Contact:
Marty Adkins
Iowa NRCS Assistant State Conservationist for Water Resources
Phone: 515-284-4769