A. WHIP funds cannot be used for mitigation or on land designated as converted wetland. These acres may be included in the WHIP agreement but are not eligible for cost-share payments. A. Cost-shared practices need to be maintained for the life of the practice, which may extend beyond the end of the agreement. After the agreement expires, USDA hopes WHIP participants will want to continue improving wildlife habitat and seek continued technical assistance to maintain and manage wildlife habitat. WHIP may be used to restore aquatic habitat as well as adjacent streambanks and uplands.
Riparian restoration can benefit many species of wildlife, including fish.
Native plants and native plant communities are encouraged because they are well adapted to the area, less invasive, and more likely to provide higher quality habitat with lower maintenance costs. In addition to wildlife habitat benefits, native plants can improve soil quality and water percolation into the soil. Benefit wildlife, such as deferring haying until after nesting season, limiting grazing to specific times of the year to provide brood cover, or eliminating logging along riparian woods to provide old growth forest. Encourage a certain vegetative response, such as livestock exclusion to allow a woody planting to develop or prescribed grazing to encourage plant diversity. Restrict practices that are not feasible for the site, such as the use of prescribed burning in an area that would have negative impacts on an adjacent housing complex.