Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP)

Updated 11/13/2008

The Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) began in 2003 as a multi-agency effort to quantify the environmental benefits of conservation practices used by private landowners participating in selected U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) conservation programs. The project consists of three components:

• National Assessment - Providing national summary estimates of conservation practice benefits and assessing the potential for USDA conservation programs to meet the nation’s environmental and conservation goals. Cropland, wetlands, wildlife and grazing lands will be assessed.
• Watershed Assessment Studies - Basic research on conservation practices in selected watersheds nationwide to provide a framework for evaluating and improving performance of national assessment models.
• Bibliographies and Literature Reviews - Current literature on conservation programs. Four literature reviews are being developed that will document what is known and not known about the environmental benefits of conservation practices and programs for cropland, fish and wildlife, wetlands, and grazing lands.

...More background information about CEAP

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• CEAP Fact Sheet (PDF; 6 MB)

What's New

• Backgrounders for the Wetlands Component Collaborative Studies, November 2008
• CEAP Wetlands Work Plan, October 2008 (PDF; 0.5 MB)
• CEAP Conservation Insight—WRP Supports Migrating Waterfowl in Nebraska’s Rainwater Basin Region, September 2008 (PDF; 0.4 MB)
• Integrated Landscape Monitoring - Prairie Potholes Pilot: Tier II Study Plan, September 2008 (PDF; 1.2 MB)
• Effects of Agricultural Conservation Practices on Fish and Wildlife, August 2008
• CEAP Conservation Insight—Estimated CRP Benefits to Mixed-Grass Prairie Birds, July 2008 (PDF; 0.5 MB)
• Effects of the Wetlands Reserve Program on Waterfowl Carrying Capacity in the Rainwater Basin Region of South-Central Nebraska, May 8, 2008 (PDF; 1.2 MB)
• Interim Report – Assessment of Ecological Services Derived From U.S. Department of Agriculture Conservation Programs in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley: Regional Estimates and Functional Condition Indicator Models. Interim report to NRCS from USGS, March 2008. (PDF; 1.16 MB)
• CEAP Conservation Insight—Ecological Monitoring Insights from the Wetlands Reserve Program in Missouri. February 2008 (PDF; 1.0 MB)