§ 14.6 Criteria for determining the primary purpose of payments with respect to potential exclusion from gross income. ( a ) *Soil conservation.* ( 1 ) Payments shall be considered to be made primarily for the purpose of soil conservation if they are intended to finance activities, measures, or practices to reduce soil deterioration.
( 2 ) Soil deterioration refers to impairments of the physical or chemical properties of soil that are largely irreversible and that can be expected to result in a long-term or permanent reduction in the productive capacity of the resource regardless of the level of technology available or applied. Erosion by water and wind and the associated changes that result in permanent or long-term reductions in the productive capacity of the soil are forms of soil deterioration.
( b ) *Water conservation.* ( 1 ) Water conservation includes actions that, for a given level of water supply, reduce the demand for or use of water by— ( i ) Improving efficiency in use;
( ii ) Reducing loss and waste;
( iii ) Increasing the recycling or reuse of water, thereby making existing supplies available for other current or future uses; or
( iv ) Improving land management practices for the purpose of reducing water use, loss, waste, increasing the efficiency of water use, or increasing the recycling or reuse of water.
( 2 ) Payments shall be considered to be made primarily for the purpose of water conservation if they are intended to finance actions, measures, or practices that can be expected to result in water conservation as defined in paragraph b(1) of this section.
( c ) *Protecting the environment.* ( 1 ) Payments shall be considered to be made primarily for the purpose of protecting the environment if they are intended to finance actions, measures, or practices undertaken to prevent man-caused or man-induced reductions or degradations in the quantity or quality of the natural external or extrinsic conditions directly or indirectly affecting people.
( 2 ) External or extrinsic conditions refer to the complex of natural conditions or circumstances, including but not limited to those affecting public health and safety, in which people reside or otherwise carry out their lives.
( d ) *Restoring the environment.* ( 1 ) Payments shall be considered to be made primarily for the purpose of restoring the environment if they are intended to finance actions, measures, or practices undertaken to reestablish, return, or enhance the quantity or quality of the natural external or extrinsic conditions directly or indirectly affecting people that existed before the man-caused or man-induced degradation.
( 2 ) External or extrinsic conditions have the same meaning with respect to restoring the environment as they do for protecting the environment.
( e ) *Improving forests.* ( 1 ) Payments shall be considered to be made primarily for the purpose of improving forests if they are intended to finance actions, measures, or practices undertaken for the direct or indirect conservation or enhancement of the quantity or quality of timber resources.
( 2 ) Improving forests includes the generation and regeneration of timber stands as well as the silvicultural improvement of such timber stands but excludes harvest cuttings not undertaken primarily for silvicultural improvement.
( f ) *Providing habitat for wildlife.* ( 1 ) Payments shall be considered to be made primarily for the purpose of providing habitat for wildlife if they are intended to finance actions, measures, or practices leading directly to the establishment of those physical and biological conditions or resources that can be expected to support primarily noncultivated and nondomesticated animal and plant life. The animal and plant life must be of value to the public in their natural state apart from any value that may be realized from them as private economic gain.
( 2 ) Wildlife includes but is not limited to species of terrestrial or aquatic animals and plants.
( 3 ) Habitat includes, but is not limited to, the food supply, water supply, and nesting and escape cover necessary to support populations of wildlife species. Included in the definition of wildlife habitat are domestic crops raised for the primary purpose of providing food supply or cover for specific wildlife species.