California Wetlands Reserve Program

California Wetlands Information

• Colusa County Map — Flooding Frequency vs WRP Easements
• Colusa County Map — Prime Farmland vs WRP Easements
• Success Story — Yolo County

Overview

California's Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) has focused on the restoration of a variety of wetland types throughout the state, including seasonal wetlands, semi-permanent marsh, vernal pools along the perimeter of the Central Valley, riparian corridors, and tidally-influenced wetlands.

The present acreage enrollment, including offers made for 1999, is 47,149 acres with an unfunded backlog of 25,834 acres of perpetual easement applications and 10,984 acres of 30-year easement applications. California reached it’s highest level of enrollment in fiscal year 1998 with more than 14,000 acres obligated and, from 1998 to the present, doubled the backlog of signed-up acres.

Restoration of WRP projects is currently underway in several parts of the state, but has slowed somewhat during the winter months. Most restoration involves the conversion of flat to gently sloping, laser-leveled fields to seasonal and semi-permanent wetlands by constructing a combination of deep water channels, shallow water areas, and islands. In the Sacramento Valley, landowners recently completed restoration of approximately 1,200 acres of rice; and in the San Joaquin Valley, converted 1,340 acres of cotton to seasonal and semi-permanent wetlands. Restoration also is underway for three projects in the Tulare Basin that will convert 873 acres of cotton and sugar beets to wetlands.

Many landowners are interested in the program for financial reasons; not only for the sale of the easement, but also for future income potential related to the sale of hunting privileges. The attraction of WRP is that the landowner maintains all rights of ownership, artificial water applications are not a requirement, and the easement payment (based on agricultural value) is generally higher than other federal and state easement programs.

Benefits

The environmental benefits of California’s WRP projects primarily focus on habitat for nesting and migrating waterfowl and shorebirds within the Pacific Flyway. In addition, some projects specifically target state and federal threatened and endangered species as well as proposed listed species such as greater sandhill cranes, Aleutian Canada geese, and various invertebrate and plant species associated with vernal pool wetlands. Riparian projects emphasize the stabilization of stream corridors, expansion of floodplains, and improved water quality benefits. Frequently flooded basin soils converted to wetland habitat provide flood relief, wildlife habitat, and filtering of sediments from adjacent creeks and rivers. Additionally, many WRP easements are used to promote environmental education and research activities.

California Riparian WRP

With the gradual reductions of USDA farm subsidy programs, many landowners are looking for alternatives to farming land that has crop production limitations due to recurring flooding and saturation problems. Because WRP generally enrolls less productive farmland, landowners are willing to give up their farming rights to develop wildlife habitat as a secondary source of income. With respect to rice farming, many of the fine-textured basin soils used to produce a crop are not suitable for growing alternative crops. Without deficiency payments, growing rice can be a losing proposition so the conversion to a wetland easement allows many landowners to keep their property and still make a living.

Although the assumed impact on local economies is that WRP will result in decreased tax revenues and the ruination of local businesses because the acreage will no longer be used for crop production, evidence of this has not been seen in California. WRP has been so well distributed that no individual county has come anywhere near the acreage limitation imposed by the program legislation. In fact, in most situations, cropland acreage lost to easements has been made up for by increased planting on previously set-aside land that is more conducive to cropping.

Partnerships

California has utilized partnerships on approximately 75 percent of the easements recorded since 1992, and more than 90 percent of the easements recorded within the past two years. NRCS has cooperative agreements with Ducks Unlimited and the California Waterfowl Association (CWA) to provide technical and financial assistance for WRP easements, and has enlisted further assistance from CWA to provide administrative assistance related to appraisals, surveys, and recording of easements. Also, NRCS entered into joint easement and/or restoration agreements with the Fish and Wildlife Service, California State Wildlife Conservation Board, The Nature Conservancy, Bureau of Reclamation, and the California Department of Fish and Game.

Contact

Alan Forkey, 530-792-5653

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