Restoring

America’s Wetlands

Agricultural Conservation Easement Program

Wetland Reserve Easements

JANUARY 2023 NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE
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30 Years of Wetland Easements

Congress first authorized the Wetland Reserve Program 

in the 1990 Farm Bill as a pilot in nine states. The first 

enrolled acres were restored in 1993. The 2014 Farm 

Bill consolidated the program into the Agricultural 

Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) to streamline 

program administration and make it easier for landowners to 

participate in the program. ACEP includes two components 

— Wetland Reserve Easements (WRE) and Agricultural Land 

Easements (ALE).

Since the program was authorized, the USDA Natural 

Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has worked with 

landowners to voluntarily enroll and restore nearly 2.9 

million acres of wetlands and associated habitats on private 

and tribal lands into easements and contracts.

The Impact

Wetlands are one of nature’s most productive ecosystems. 

Restored wetlands produce a wide range of benefits, 

including:

 Improved habitat for migratory birds and other wetland 

dependent wildlife

 Enhanced water quality due to the wetland’s filtering of 

sediments and chemicals

 Reduced flooding as wetlands can act as small 

reservoirs catching runoff water from farm fields

 Higher groundwater recharge rates in nearby shallow 

aquifers

 More biological diversity within the wetland and nearby 

areas

 Carbon sequestration

 New educational, scientific, and recreational 

opportunities for local schools and recreationists, such 

as birders and hikers

 Protected ecologically important open space

The greatest potential for wetland restoration exists on 

private lands since most of the nation’s wetlands are located 

on private and tribal lands. Thousands of landowners have 

voluntarily taken big and small actions every day to protect, 

restore, and enhance wetlands and wildlife habitat.

With NRCS financial and technical assistance, landowners 

and conservation partners continue to leverage resources to 

restore wetlands to their natural functions.

The Numbers

For 30 years, NRCS has used its wetland easement program, 

now the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program 

— Wetland Reserve Easements component, to enroll 

record numbers of acres to protect, restore, and enhance 

wetlands on private and tribal lands which were previously 

degraded due to agricultural uses. During that time, private 

landowners and conservation organizations enrolled nearly 

2.9 million acres through almost 16,000 agreements.

NRCS and landowners use wetland conservation easements 

to achieve the greatest wetland functions and values, along 

with optimum wildlife habitat, on every enrolled acre.

Source: NRCS Easement Program Data, farmers.gov - https://

www.farmers.gov/data/easements/overview, 1/17/23.

Wetland Successes

The cumulative benefits of wetland conservation work have 

resulted in tremendous environmental, social, and economic 

impacts nationwide. For example, wildlife habitat created 

from wetland easements has helped prevent listing under 

the Endangered Species Act and accelerate the recovery of 

at-risk species.
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Starke County, Indiana

Mark Magura and his wife, Amy, have worked hard to restore 

more than 200 acres of former farmland back into a wetland 

and wildlife oasis through NRCS’s Agricultural Conservation 

Easement Program, Wetland Reserve Easement component. 

The restoration included tree plantings and prairie 

establishment through planting native grasses and forbs 

as well as restoring 16 acres of hydrology to benefit the 

wetland. Land that had for years been home mostly to corn 

and soybeans is now flourishing with wildlife.
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Winnebago County, Iowa

A collaborative effort among local, state, and federal 

government agencies, and nonprofit conservation groups 

has helped landowners restore nearly 1,000 contiguous 

acres of uplands and wetlands to form a wetland complex 

in the Prairie Pothole region. Potholes naturally produce 

moist soil plants which are valuable sources of forage and 

cover for waterfowl. The wetland complex includes 14 

conservation easements that restored once problematic 

cropland frequently subject to seasonal ponding into a haven 

for wildlife and recreational opportunities. Similarly, uplands 

adjacent to these pothole wetlands provide habitat for bird 

nesting and rearing.
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Franklin Parish, Louisiana

Bonner Wiggers, his brother, son, and nephews farm 

more than 3,000 acres in eastern Louisiana, an area where 

bottomland hardwood forests are common. After clearing 

1,100 acres of land several years ago and trying to grow 

a profitable crop unsuccessfully, members of the Wiggers 

Family Partnership decided to enroll 500 acres into an 

NRCS wetland easement. Later, they enrolled the remaining 

600 acres of marginal land into another NRCS easement. 

After planting bottomland hardwood trees and installing 

water control structures, along with other conservation 

practices, the land is rich in wildlife, including waterfowl 

and other migratory birds, and a place for recreation for the 

whole family.

Mississippi River Alluvial Valley, Louisiana

On the brink of extinction in 1992, the Louisiana Black Bear 

was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. 

At that time, more than 80 percent of Louisiana black bear 

habitat was lost. The bottomland hardwood forests of the 

Louisiana Delta had been cleared for row crop production 

and homes and roads were built. With most of the critical 

Louisiana black bear habitat on private lands, the fate 

of the bear was in the hands of private landowners who 

committed to voluntary protection and restoration of the 

historic bottomland hardwood ecosystem. NRCS worked 

with private landowners who voluntarily enrolled land into 

Wetland Reserve Easements to restore and provide longterm protection on more than 225,000 acres. Thanks to the 

collaborative efforts of multiple stakeholders to monitor 

black bear population numbers, restore black bear habitat, 

and protect the subspecies for the long term, the Louisiana 

black bear has now recovered and was removed from the 

Endangered Species Act list in 2016.

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
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Lake County, Montana

The Foust family decided to restore their wetlands to 

improve wildlife habitat and water quality that had been 

degraded due to agricultural practices. Over the years, canals 

and ditches intercepted and interrupted the natural flow 

of the river. The Foust family worked with NRCS to enroll 

land into a wetland easement to restore and protect their 

wetland areas along the Flathead River. The Foust farm is 

part of a critical wildlife migratory corridor stretching from 

Canada to Mexico as well as a migratory corridor for grizzly 

bears in Montana. The restored wetland is a mosaic of hills, 

floodplains, terraces, and land masses that provides a resting 

and staging area for migrating waterfowl.
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Marion County, Oregon

Through a wetland easement with NRCS, Dave Budeau 

restored and protected wetlands on his property. The land 

was dominated by one grass species, bentgrass, which 

can be invasive in the Oregon’s wetlands. Budeau wanted 

to transform his land from a one-species landscape, or 

monoculture, to a wetland haven that provides sanctuary 

to a variety of wildlife, including a threatened Oregon fish. 

The restoration work created ideal habitat for the Oregon 

chub, which was listed as endangered at the time as the loss 

of key wetland habitat had pushed the chub to the brink of 

extinction. As a result of NRCS conservation efforts in the 

region, the Oregon chub has since been removed from the 

Endangered Species Act list.
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