USDA to Provide Federal Funds to Protect Michigan's Farmland

Project proposals will be accepted through April 27, 2007
 

EAST LANSING, March 30, 2007—About $1.5 million is available to protect agricultural land in Michigan through the federal Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP) in fiscal year 2007, said Elvis Graves, Acting State Conservationist for U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

“This program helps communities preserve open space, wildlife habitat and cultural resources,” said Graves. “This is an excellent way to keep prime farmland in agriculture and, at the same time, keep farming and ranching communities striving by relieving development pressures.”

Nationwide, $69 million is available to all 50 states, the Pacific Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for FRPP projects in fiscal year 2007.

NRCS is seeking proposals from local, state and federally recognized tribal governments and non-governmental organizations interested in working together to acquire conservation easements on farms and ranches. Proposals postmarked or received at the NRCS State Office in East Lansing by the close of business Friday, April 27, 2007 will be ranked and considered for funding. Final project selections are expected to be announced in June.

FRPP protects productive agricultural land by purchasing conservation easements to limit conversion of farm and ranch lands to non-agricultural uses. Using existing programs, NRCS in Michigan partners with local, state, or tribal governments and non-government organizations to acquire conservation easements or other interests in land from landowners. NRCS provides up to 50 percent of the appraised fair market value of the conservation easement in this voluntary program. State, tribal and local entities can match that amount and they can include landowner donations in their match.

Last fiscal year, NRCS and its sponsors in Michigan entered into five FRPP easements totaling 585 acres. Nationwide, NRCS has closed 1,682 conservation easements covering 331,557 acres since the program began in 1996. The eligible farm or ranch must have the following components:

--contain productive soils or historic or archaeological sites;
--be part of a pending offer from a non-governmental organization, state, tribe or local farmland protection program;
--be privately owned;
--covered by a conservation plan;
--large enough to sustain agricultural production;
--accessible to markets for what the land produces; and
--surrounded by parcels of land that can support long-term agricultural production.

Several changes were made to FRPP in fiscal year 2007. Easements must be closed within 18 months instead of the previously allowable two years. Agreements will only be extended for extenuating circumstances. Cooperative entities must submit additional documentation on acres of wetlands and forested land. Additional documentation will be needed for cultural resources if the parcels are qualifying based on their historic or archaeological characteristics. In addition, sponsoring entities must submit a list of alternative tracts of qualifying land in case a funded parcel is withdrawn from the program and the tract must be replaced from the list of alternatives.

For more information on FRPP, please visit www.mi.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/frpp.html.

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