FIP is available in counties designated by a Forest Service survey of eligible private timber acreage. Partners for Wildlife provides cost-share and technical assistance to landowners to restore wetlands, streams and some grasslands and forestlands in order to improve their use by wildlife. Funds are limited. The CREP provides landowners financial subsidies to remove cropland and certain pasture land from agricultural production by placing it in the Conservation Reserve for up to 15 years. Conservation practices that must be installed are riparian forest buffers, filter strips and wetland restoration.
Eligibility varies by region.
Designed to encourage the protection of privately owned forest lands, FLP is an entirely voluntary program. To maximize the public benefits it achieves, the program focuses on the acquisition of partial interests in privately owned forest lands. FLP helps the states develop and carry out their forest conservation plans. It encourages and supports acquisition of conservation easements, legally binding agreements transferring a negotiated set of property rights from one party to another, without removing the property from private ownership. Most FLP conservation easements restrict development, require sustainable forestry practices, and protect other values.