Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program

Overview

After a major storm, NRCS helps communities move from emergency response to long-term recovery. Through the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program, NRCS works with local sponsors to assess damage, stabilize streambanks, remove debris, and protect homes and infrastructure from future flooding. EWP offers technical and financial assistance to help local communities relieve imminent threats to life and property caused by floods, fires, windstorms and other natural disasters that impair a watershed. 

EWP does not require a disaster declaration by federal or state government officials for program assistance to begin. The NRCS State Conservationist can declare a local watershed emergency and initiate EWP program assistance in cooperation with an eligible sponsor (see the Eligibility section below). 

Note: NRCS will not provide funding for activities undertaken by a sponsor prior to the signing of a cooperative agreement between NRCS and the sponsor.

NRCS offers financial and technical assistance for various activities under the EWP Program, including: 

• Removing debris from stream channels, road culverts and bridges;
• Reshaping and protecting eroded streambanks;
• Correcting damaged or destroyed drainage facilities;
• Establishing vegetative cover on critically eroding lands;
• Repairing levees and structures;       
• Repairing certain conservation practices; and
• Purchasing EWP Buyouts.

EWP Project Criteria

EWP projects must meet the following criteria:

• Provide protection from flooding or soil erosion;
• Reduce threats to life and property;
• Restore the hydraulic capacity to the natural environment; and
• Be economically and environmentally defensible.

Eligibility

Recovery Projects

Recovery projects begin with a local sponsor or legal subdivision of state or tribal government. Eligible sponsors include cities, counties, towns, conservation districts, or any federally-recognized Native American tribe or tribal organization. Interested public and private landowners must work through a sponsor.

EWP cannot be used:

• To address the same structural issue or practice three times within 10 years;
• For existing operation and maintenance;
• To repair, rebuild, or maintain any transportation facilities, utilities, or similar facilities;
• To restore projects installed by another federal agency;
• To repair nonstructural management practices;
• To repair coastal erosions to beaches, dunes, and shorelines, including those along the Great Lakes;
• If the recovery measures are eligible for the Emergency Conservation Program offered thru the Farm Service Agency (FSA).

EWP Recovery Buyouts

EWP Recovery Buyouts are used where structural projects to reduce threats from flooding and erosion are not cost-effective and/or beneficial. Once NRCS determines that buying a flood-prone property (for example) would provide the pivotal solution and sustainable course of action for a community, EWP has the authority to provide local sponsors with financial assistance to purchase and preserve the land for the purpose of restoring the natural environment. The land is owned and maintained by the buyout sponsor.

Floodplain Easement Projects

In some situations, landowners can directly apply for assistance through a floodplain easement at the local NRCS office when project funding for floodplain easements becomes available. States will hold a signup period for the impacted communities and the local NRCS offices will publicize that information in the affected communities. Land that is approved to become a floodplain easement is purchased and owned by the federal government.

Sponsors 

All EWP projects must have a sponsor and demonstrate that they reduce threats to life and property; be economically, environmentally and socially sound; and must be designed to acceptable engineering standards.

NRCS partners with diverse sponsors to complete EWP Program projects. Sponsors include cities, counties, towns, conservation districts, or any federally-recognized Native American tribe or tribal organization.

Sponsors can apply for EWP Program assistance directly to NRCS while public and private landowners can apply for this assistance through a local sponsor.

Check out the EWP Sponsor Resource page for more information.

Limited Resource Areas (LRAs)

What is an LRA?

An LRA is a geographical area where housing values and individual income are less than 75% of a state’s average and unemployment is at least twice the U.S. average. Discover if your county qualifies as an LRA on the interactive map below.

Federal Cost Share for LRAs

If NRCS determines that an area qualifies as an LRA, the federal cost share for implementing EWP emergency measures may not exceed 90% of the construction costs.

List of LRA 2025 Counties and Tribal Areas

Additional Documents

Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program Fact Sheet