32. Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
Contact: Farm Service Agency in your phone book under U.S. Department of Agriculture.
This program offers annual rental payments for 10 to 15 years plus cost-sharing to establish vegetative cover (grass or trees) on cropland or pasture land. Cropland must have been planted to an agricultural commodity 2 of the 5 most recent crop years. Pasture land includes certain acreage enrolled in the Water Bank Program. In addition cropland must meet one of these criteria: highly erodible land, cropped wetland, subject to scour erosion, located in a national or state CRP conservation priority area (most counties in northwestern, western and southern Minnesota), or cropland associated with noncropped wetlands. An applicant must have owned or operated the land for at least one year prior to close of the sign-up period, with some exceptions. Applicant bids must describe the type of conservation practice to be done and the land rental rate to be paid. Maximum acceptable rental rates are based on soil types in a county. Bids are ranked using an Environmental Benefits Index that includes wildlife habitat benefits; water quality benefits from reduced erosion, runoff, and leaching; on-farm benefits from reduced erosion; enduring benefits; air quality benefits from reduced wind erosion; benefits of enrollment in conservation priority areas where enrollment would contribute to improvement in water quality, wildlife habitat, or air quality; and cost. Typical conservation practices that may be accomplished include, but are not limited to: grass/legume establishment, native grass establishment, tree planting, wetland restoration, and tallgrass prairie restoration. The cost-share rate is 50%. Technical assistance may be provided by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service or Minnesota Department of Natural Resources depending on the practices involved.

33. Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Continuous Signup for High Priority Conservation Practices
Contact: Farm Service Agency in your phone book under U.S. Department of Agriculture.
This program offers annual rental payments for 10 to 15 years plus cost-sharing to establish grass or trees on cropland or pasture land. Cropland must have been planted to an agricultural commodity 2 of the 5 most recent crop years. Pasture land must be suitable for use as a riparian buffer when planted to trees. Applicant bids must describe the type of conservation practice to be done and the land rental rate to be paid. Offers are automatically accepted, provided the proposed rental rate does not exceed the Commodity Credit Corporation’s average dryland cash rent for the past three years for comparable soils in the applicant’s county, and the applicant agrees to conduct one or more of these conservation practices on the enrolled land: field windbreaks, grass waterways, shallow water areas for wildlife, contour grass strips, shelterbelts, living snow fences, salt-tolerant vegetation, filter strips, riparian buffers, or cross wind trap strips. Land within an Environmental Protection Agency designated wellhead protection area is also eligible. The one-year ownership requirement applicable to the CRP has been waived except for land within an approved wellhead protection area or land that will be devoted to salt-tolerant vegetation. The cost-share rate is 50%. Technical assistance may be provided by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service or Minnesota Department of Natural Resources depending on the practices involved.

34. Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP)
Contact: Farm Service Agency (FSA) in your phone book under U.S. Department of Agriculture or your Soil and Water Conservation District.
This state/federal partnership combines the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) with Minnesota’s Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) Reserve Program to retire up to 100,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land in the Minnesota River watershed. The program’s goal is to reduce sediment, phosphorus and nitrogen loading, and flooding in the river; and improve wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities in the river valley. Landowners can voluntarily enroll land in a 15-year CRP contract followed by a RIM Reserve easement (priority will be given to perpetual easements). All land must meet CRP requirements (see #32). In addition CREP targets marginal, frequently flooded cropland in the floodplain of the Minnesota River and its principal tributaries; riparian buffers along cropland identified as a pollutant contributor; and wetland restoration (prairie potholes) with a high priority for providing water quality and wildlife benefits to the Minnesota River or its tributaries. Landowners should offer to enroll land into CREP at their FSA and Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) office. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service will provide technical advice. If the offer passes an initial screening by the SWCD and USDA agencies, the landowner, with assistance from the USDA agencies and SWCD, will complete a CRP contract and RIM Reserve easement and develop a conservation plan to maximize benefits for water quality and wildlife. If the plan is approved, the land will be enrolled. Landowners will initially receive a RIM “bonus” payment followed by 15 years of annual CRP payments. The bonus payment is a lump sum payment for the RIM Reserve easement that begins when the CRP contract expires. CRP payments are based on soil rental rates currently approved. The RIM bonus payment is based on a percentage of the CRP payment. Cost-sharing also pays 100% of the vegetation establishment costs (50% from the federal government and 50% from the state government).

35. Debt for Nature
Contact: Farm Service Agency (FSA) in your phone book under U.S. Department of Agriculture.
This voluntary program allows Farm Loan Program borrowers with loans secured in real estate to cancel a portion of their FSA indebtedness in exchange for a conservation easement of 10, 30, or 50 years. Eligible lands include wetlands; highly erodible lands; lands containing aquatic life, endangered species, or wildlife habitat of local, regional, or national importance; lands in 100-year floodplains; areas of high water quality or scenic value; historic or cultural properties listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places; aquifer recharge areas of local, regional, or state importance; buffer zones necessary to protect proposed conservation easement areas; and areas within or adjacent to federal, state, or local conservation areas. Land under the contract must be devoted to conservation, wildlife, or recreational purposes. The FSA pays costs for all surveys, appraisals, and recording fees associated with the easement. The landowner retains control over access to the land. Other agencies may offer cost-sharing to pay for habitat restoration.

36. Emergency Watershed Protection Program Floodplain Easements
Contact: Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in your phone book under U.S. Department of Agriculture.
This federal program offers a conservation easement on land so damaged by flooding that the cost of restoring it and associated structures would be greater than the land’s value after restoration. The easement and associated conservation measures permanently restore natural floodplain hydrology as an alternative to traditional attempts to restore damaged levees, lands, and structures. Easement lands are not eligible for future federal disaster assistance. There are three easement categories. 1) Natural vegetation is fully restored. This applies to buffers adjacent to water bodies, habitat for state or federal at-risk species, and other landscape conditions as determined by the NRCS. 2) Natural vegetation is fully restored, and the landowner may request permission for compatible uses, such as haying, grazing, and timber harvest. This applies to floodplain lands that are at high risk for frequent flooding. 3) There are no limitations on agricultural use. This applies to farmland that will be subject to periodic flooding, but is not a high risk area. The landowner may receive up to 100% of the agricultural value of land used for floodplain easements in categories 1 and 2, and up to 50% of the agricultural value of land in category 3; up to 100% of any hydrology or other environmental measures that need to be installed; and up to 100% of the cost of establishing the easement, such as appraisals, surveys, title work, and recording of the easement.

37. Farmland Protection Program
Contact: Natural Resources Conservation Service or Farm Service Agency in your phone book under U.S. Department of Agriculture.
This voluntary program provides funding to state, local, or tribal entities with existing farmland protection programs to purchase conservation easements or other interests from farmers to prevent conversion of the land to nonagricultural uses (see #43). A minimum 30-year easement is required, but priority is given to applications for perpetual easements. To qualify the land must be prime, unique, or other productive soil; be part of a pending offer from a state, local, or tribal farmland protection program; be privately owned; 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. Applications that protect locally significant lands are also considered if they are economically viable units. Participating landowners choose to keep their land in agriculture and agree not to convert the land for nonagricultural use. Landowners retain all rights to use the property for agriculture. All enrolled lands must have a conservation plan.

38. Forest Legacy Program
Contact: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Division of Forestry, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155-4044; phone (651) 296-4484. This program protects and conserves important forest land from conversion to nonforest uses. Important forests have resource values such as scenic quality, recreation opportunities, critical wildlife habitat or watershed functions. They may also provide the opportunity to continue traditional forest uses. Funds are provided by the U.S. Forest Service through the DNR to purchase conservation easements or fee simple ownership from willing sellers. Minnesota recently finished its Assessment of Need and expects to receive federal funds to begin acquiring suitable forest land in designated Forest Legacy Areas where development pressure is high.

39. Minnesota Land Trust
Contact: Minnesota Land Trust, 2356 University Avenue West, Suite 400, St. Paul, MN 55114; phone (651) 647-9590.
This membership-based, nonprofit organization is dedicated to preserving open space in Minnesota. It offers perpetual conservation easements to protect agricultural land, forested lands, wildlife areas, wetlands, and other scenic or natural lands. The landowner retains title to the property, the right to sell it, the right to restrict public access, and the right to deed it to whomever he or she chooses. However, most or all of the rights to develop are restricted or eliminated by the easement. If the Trust accepts an easement, it will oversee and enforce the easement’s mutually agreed upon terms and conditions. An appraisal is made of the land’s value before the easement and after the easement would take place with its land use restrictions. The difference is the value of the easement. This reduction in land value may be claimed as a charitable contribution on the landowner’s federal income tax return, and it may reduce the land value for purposes of estate valuation and property taxes. The landowner does not receive payment from the Trust but benefits from the tax consequences.

40. Minnesota Native Prairie Bank Program
Contact: Prairie Biologist, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), 1221 E. Fir Avenue, Fergus Falls, MN 56537; phone (218) 739-7576.
This program offers conservation easements to protect native prairie vegetation that has never been plowed and has less than 10% tree cover. Other questions asked before a parcel is accepted include: is the tract part of a Prairie Landscape Reserve; is the tract adjacent to DNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or other public land; is there good information on the availability of this prairie type; is the County Biological Inventory completed for the area; does the tract contain high quality prairie or rare species habitat; will the tract be lost if some action is not taken; and is acquisition not possible or desirable? Easements may be of limited duration (a minimum of 20 years), however priority is given to permanent easements. For a permanent Prairie Bank easement, the landowner is paid 65% of the Reinvest in Minnesota Permanent Marginal Agricultural Land payment rate (typically 58.5% of the average estimated market value of cropland in the township). For a limited duration easement, the landowner is paid 65% of the permanent Prairie Bank easement rate. If continued agricultural practices, such as haying, will benefit the prairie, the DNR and landowner may agree to adjust the payment rate to allow such practices to continue.

41. Minnesota Waterfowl Association (MWA)
Contact: Minnesota Waterfowl Association, 5701 Normandale Road, Minneapolis, MN 55424; phone (612) 922-2832.
This nonprofit organization’s mission is to protect statewide waterfowl resources, including critical habitats. As part of this mission, MWA and its local chapters purchase (or acquire through donations) critical wildlife habitats, especially wetlands and surrounding upland areas. The federal tax code encourages land donations to nonprofit organizations such as MWA. Acquired areas are preserved, restored and enhanced to benefit waterfowl and all wetland-dependent wildlife.

42. Permanent Wetland Preserves Program
Contact: Soil and Water Conservation District or Minnesota Board of Water & Soil Resources, One West Water Street, Suite 250, St. Paul, MN 55107; phone (651) 296-3529.
This state program offers cash payments to landowners for permanent conservation easements that protect wetlands, including Type 1 (seasonally flooded basins or upland flats), Type 2 (inland fresh meadows), Type 3 (shallow marshes), and Type 6 (shrub swamps). Such wetlands may be natural or fully restored. Eligible landowners include individuals, family farms, farm partnerships, farm corporations, estates, and trusts. The land usually must be at least 5 acres in an unincorporated area, 2.5 acres in an incorporated area, or it must be a whole field or a whole tax parcel. Up to 4 acres of adjacent upland that buffers the wetland may be included for each acre of wetland. Payment rates are set annually, but currently are as follows: For previously cropped wetlands (planted to agricultural crops in 2 of the past 5 years), the payment rate on all land outside the Metro Area and on agricultural land within the Metro Area is 90% of the Assessor’s Township Average Market Value (ATAMV); the rate on non-agricultural land within the Metro Area is 20% of ATAMV. For all other wetlands, the payment rate on all land outside the Metro Area and on agricultural land within the Metro Area is 50% of ATAMV; the rate on non-agricultural land within the Metro Area is 20% of ATAMV. For cropped adjacent uplands, the payment rate on all land outside the Metro Area and on agricultural land within the Metro Area is 90% of ATAMV; the rate on non-agricultural land within the Metro Area is 60% of ATAMV. For non-cropped adjacent uplands, the payment rate is 60% of ATAMV on all lands. The landowner retains control over access to the land.

43. Purchase of Development Rights and Transfer of Development Rights
Contact: county zoning authority to see whether such programs exist in your county.
Minnesota planning and zoning laws give county and municipal governments the authority to adopt provisions for purchase of development rights and transfer of development rights. A purchase of development rights is a voluntary conservation easement that pays farmers the difference between the value of the land for agriculture and the value of the land for its potential use, which is generally residential or commercial development. A transfer of development rights program allows landowners to tranfer the right to develop one parcel of land (referred to as the "sending area") to a different parcel of land (referred to as the "receiving area"). The sending and receiving areas are generally established through local zoning ordinances. Such a program protects farmland by shifting development from agricultural areas to areas planned for growth.

44. Reinvest In Minnesota (RIM) Resources Program
Contact: Soil and Water Conservation District or Minnesota Board of Water & Soil Resources, One West Water Street, Suite 250, St. Paul, MN 55107; phone (651) 296-3529.
This conservation easement program retires marginal, highly erodible agricultural land to protect soil and water quality and support fish and wildlife habitat. Qualifying land includes sensitive groundwater areas, riparian lands, wetland restoration areas, marginal agricultural cropland areas, pastured hillsides, living snowfence areas, woodlots on agricultural land, abandoned building sites on agricultural land, and replacement wetlands. The land usually must be at least 5 acres or a whole field. Landowners may enter into perpetual or 20-year easements with the state for converting their land to natural vegetative cover including trees, shrubs, native grasses, or wetlands. Applications for perpetual easements are given priority. For land with a crop history (planted to agricultural crops in 2 of the past 5 years), the payment rate for a perpetual easement is 90% of the Assessor’s Township Average Market Value (ATAMV); for a limited term easement, the rate is 75% of ATAMV. For land without a crop history, the payment rate for a perpetual easement is 60% of ATAMV; for a limited term easement, the rate is 45% of ATAMV. Landowners retain control over public access to the property and are eligible for cost-sharing to cover site conversion costs.

45. Wetland Acquisition Program
Contact: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Whipple Federal Building, 1 Federal Drive, Fort Snelling, MN 55111; phone (612) 713-5410.
This program offers landowners cash payments in exchange for acquiring fee titles or permanent easements on critical wetlands and adjacent uplands. In Minnesota the program concentrates on acquiring prairie wetlands for waterfowl habitat management. Landowners electing to enter into wetland easements must agree not to drain, burn, level, or fill enrolled wetlands. They also must allow the USFWS to enter the land to check for compliance with terms of the easement. The easement does not restrict normal farming practices such as cropping, haying, grazing, plowing, or working wetlands when they have dried from natural causes. Landowners still have the right to open or close their lands to public access.

46. Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP)
Contact: Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in your phone book under U.S. Department of Agriculture.
This program pays for restoring degraded or destroyed wetlands and associated upland habitat and it pays the agricultural value of the land enrolled in either a permanent or 30-year conservation easement. To be eligible for WRP, land must be restorable and suitable for wildlife benefits, including wetlands cleared and/or drained for farming, pasture, or timber production; lands adjacent to restorable wetlands that contribute significantly to wetland functions and values; previously restored wetlands that need long-term protection; upland areas needed to provide an adequate ecological buffer or define a manageable boundary; drained wooded wetlands where hydrology will be fully restored; existing or restorable riparian habitat corridors that connect protected wetlands; and lands substantially altered by flooding where there is a likelihood of successful wetland restoration at a reasonable cost. Restoration plans are prepared by the NRCS in cooperation with other agencies. Applications are then ranked to ensure the most environmentally and economically valuable wetlands are restored and protected with the funds available. When an appliction has been tentatively accepted, the NRCS will determine the agricultural value of the land intended for WRP and offer the landowner a payment amount for either the permanent or 30-year easement option. Once the landowner accepts the offer, NRCS begins the easement acquisition process and acquires title insurance. The easement is then recorded, the landowner paid, and the wetland restored. The restoration cost is paid 100% by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The landowner may use the land for appropriate recreational activities, and the NRCS may approve haying, grazing, timber harvesting, or other land uses under certain conditions depending on amount, method, timing, and duration. The landowner retains control over access to the land, and may sell or lease the land. (Cost-sharing for wetland restoration also is available without a conservation easement. See #20.)