FACT SHEET

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

FARM SERVICE AGENCY

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April 2011

 Illinois Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) Expanded in 2010

Overview

USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) 

and the state of Illinois have expanded 

the existing Conservation Reserve 

Enhancement Program (CREP) to include the Kaskaskia River Watershed.

The original Illinois CREP targeted 

the Illinois River Watershed and authorized enrollment of up to 232,000 

acres of eligible land. Since 1998, 

landowners have voluntarily enrolled 

126,500 acres. This expansion will 

allow enrollment of the remaining 

105,500 acres in both the Illinois 

River and Kaskaskia River Watersheds. CREP is now available to 

landowners in 68 counties within the 

two watersheds.

CREP is a federal, state, and local 

natural resource partnership. Its 

purpose is to address water quality 

and wildlife issues by reducing sediment and nutrient runoff and enhancing wildlife habitats. Through CREP, 

program participants receive financial 

incentives from FSA and the state of 

Illinois to voluntarily enroll in the 

program and extend FSA’s 15-year 

CRP contract through 15 year, 35 

year, or permanent state conservation 

easements.

Benefits

CREP is a partnership between landowners, land operators, governmental 

entities and non-governmental organizations to address watershed quality 

problems such as nonpoint sediment 

and nutrient impacts and loss of quality wildlife and fish habitats. 

Goals

The overall goal of the Illinois CREP 

is to provide producers in the Illinois 

and Kaskaskia rivers watersheds an 

opportunity to voluntarily restore riparian buffers, grassland and wetland 

areas, and certain highly erodible 

acres in exchange for financial and 

technical assistance. These practices 

will assist in erosion control, sediment 

reduction, nutrient reduction, water retention, and restoration and enhancement of critical habitats for rare and 

declining fish and wildlife species and 

for state- and federally-listed threatened and endangered species.

Specific goals include: 

• Reducing the amount of silt and 

sedimentation entering the main 

stem of the Illinois and Kaskaskia 

rivers by 20 percent;

• Reducing the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen in the Illinois 

and Kaskaskia rivers by 10 

percent;

• Increasing by 15 percent the 

populations of waterfowl, shorebirds, grassland birds, and stateor federally-listed threatened 

and endangered species such as 

bald eagles, egrets and herons in 

the Illinois River and Kaskaskia 

River watersheds;

• Increasing the native fish and 

mussel stocks by 10 percent in 

the lower reaches of the Illinois 

River (Peoria, LaGrange and 

Alton reaches); and

• Helping to meet federal goals to 

reduce nitrogen loading to the 

Mississippi River and Gulf of 

Mexico thereby helping to reduce 

hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico.

Eligible Areas

The Illinois CREP now includes all 

or portions of these 68 counties in the 

Illinois and Kaskaskia rivers watersheds:

Adams, Bond, Brown, Bureau, 

Calhoun, Cass, Champaign, Christian, Clinton, Coles, Cook, DeKalb, 

De Witt, Douglas, DuPage, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Fulton, Greene, 

Grundy, Hancock, Henderson, Henry, 

Iroquois, Jefferson, Jersey, Kane, 

Kankakee, Kendall, Knox, Lake, 

LaSalle, Lee, Livingston, Logan, 

McDonough, McHenry, McLean, 

Macon, Macoupin, Madison, Marion, 

Marshall, Mason, Menard, Monroe, 

Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, 

Peoria, Perry, Piatt, Pike, Putnam, 

Randolph, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, 

Shelby, Stark, St. Clair, Tazewell, 

Vermilion, Warren, Washington, Will, 

and Woodford.

Conservation Practices

Specific conservation practices have 

been identified within this CREP project where, if established, will assist 

federal and state partners in meeting 

the CREP program goals for improving water quality by controlling 

erosion, reducing sediment, improving 

water retention and nutrient uptake.

The Conservation Reserve Program 

(CRP) practices offered for enrollment 

under the CREP are:

• CP-2 Establishment of Permanent 

Native Grasses;

• CP-3 Tree Planting;

• CP-3A Hardwood Tree Planting;

• CP-4D Permanent Wildlife Habitat, Non-easement;

• CP-9 Shallow Water Areas for 

Wildlife;

• CP-11 Vegetative Cover – Trees 

Already Established;

• CP-12 Wildlife Food Plot;

• CP-21 Filter Strips;

• CP-22 Riparian Buffer;

• CP-23 Wetland Restoration;

• CP-25 Rare and Declining 

Habitat.

Sign –up and Eligibility Requirements

Enrollment began Dec. 1, 2010. 

Cropland must meet CRP land eligibility criteria to be considered eligible 

for enrollment. 

• Producers voluntarily enter into 
FACT SHEET

Illinois CREP Expanded April 2011

contracts with the federal government for 14 to 15 years and agree 

to remove enrolled lands from 

agricultural production and devote them to an approved practice 

and then have the opportunity to 

voluntarily enroll the land under 

a state conservation easement for 

15 or 35 years or permanently 

and receive additional incentives;

• Two categories of land are eligible: 1) Flooded and/or wetland 

riparian areas that are within 

the 100-year floodplain of the 

Illinois and Kaskaskia rivers and 

their tributary stream systems or 

wetlands restoration located in 

the watersheds that are either a 

farmed wetland, a prior converted 

wetland or a wetland farmed under natural conditions; 2) Highly 

erodible riparian areas defined for 

CREP as immediately adjacent to 

the 100-year floodplain and with 

a weighted erodibility index of 

eight or greater.

CREP Payments

FSA payments include:

• Cost Share: 50 percent of 

eligible reimbursable practice 

establishment costs.

• Practice Incentive Payment: A 

one-time payment equal to 40 

percent of the eligible installation 

costs for CP-9, CP-21, CP-22 and 

CP-23.

• Signing Incentive Payment: A 

one-time payment of consistent 

with Handbook 2-CRP for CP21, CP-22 and CP-23.

• Annual Rental Payment: Payment made annually based on the 

cropland or marginal pastureland 

values. 

• Incentive Payments: A payment 

annually, as a percentage of the 

base rental rate, of 30 percent for 

lands qualifying within the 100-

year floodplain or as wetlands; or 

20 percent for lands qualifying as 

highly erodible riparian areas and 

immediately adjacent to the 100- 

year floodplain. 

• Maintenance Incentive Payment: 

A payment for installation of 

permanent fencing and/or water 

facility development for practices 

CP-21 and CP-22. 

The state of Illinois will offer the following payments:

• A one-time payment for a state 

conservation easement with a 15-

year, 35-year or permanent duration with the payment amount 

dependent upon the length of the 

easement;

• Up to 50 percent reimbursement 

of the cost to implement approved conservation practices on 

lands that are enrolled in conservation easements.

Enrollment in CRP

Producers enrolled in the Illinois 

CREP also may be eligible to enroll in 

general and continuous sign-up of other practices under FSA’s CRP. CREP 

offers producers another option to voluntarily enroll and enhance their land 

under the CRP and provides additional 

benefits and extended resource protection not available through other CRP 

enrollment options. 

How to Participate

Interested producers should contact 

the county FSA office or local Soil 

and Water Conservation District office. Additional information also is 

available on FSA’s website at www.

fsa.usda.gov. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 

prohibits discrimination in all of its programs 

and activities on the basis of race, color, 

national origin, age, disability, and where 

applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, 

parental status, religion, sexual orientation, 

political beliefs, genetic information, reprisal, 

or because all of part of an individual’s income 

is derived from any public assistance program. 

(Not all bases apply to all programs.) Persons 

with disabilities who require alternative means 

for communication of program information 

(Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 

(voice and TDD). 

To file a complaint of discrimination, write to 

USDA, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 

1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Stop 9410, 

Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call toll-free 

at (866) 632-9992 (English) or (800) 877-8339 

(TDD) or (866) 377-8642 (English Federalrelay) or (800) 845-6136 (Spanish Federalrelay). USDA is an equal opportunity provider 

and employer.

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