Wetland Mitigation Banking Program

The Wetland Mitigation Banking Program supports the establishment and development of agricultural wetland mitigation banks to make credits available to producers. These credits help producers meet their wetland conservation compliance responsibilitie

NRCS will seek applications to establish wetland mitigation banks for agriculture producers. The intent of the program is for qualified third-party wetland bankers to operate and manage all aspects of a wetland mitigation bank, with oversight by NRCS. Specific funding uses and restrictions will be identified in an agreement between NRCS and those selected to receive the funding.

Proposals will be accepted from applicants in any of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Caribbean Area (Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), and the Pacific Islands Area (Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). NRCS will accept proposals from eligible entities that include federally recognized Native American tribal governments; state and local units of government; for-profit entities; nonprofits with or without a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS other than institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; and public and State-controlled institutions of higher education. Priority will be given to banks in states with significant numbers of individual wetlands, wetland acres, and conservation compliance requests. Based on NRCS data, these states are Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Ohio.

Mitigation banks established through this program are for the explicit and sole purpose of assisting agricultural producers with wetland conservation compliance, also known as Swampbuster compliance, through other USDA programs.

Priority will be given to banks located in geographic areas with the largest numbers of individual wetlands and/or wetland compliance producer requests.

The intent of the program is for qualified third parties to operate and manage all aspects of a wetland mitigation bank with oversight by NRCS.

Projects may be up to 4 years in duration.

If the program receives an allocation of funding the announcement and associated Federal forms for this program funding opportunity will be able to be viewed at www.grants.gov. See the Content and Format section for more information on the required forms and information.

The NRCS Projects Branch screens proposals for completeness and adherence to the provisions of the Announcement for Program funding. Proposals that pass the initial screening undergo a technical review carried out by a panel consisting of Federal employees with experience in wetland restoration and mitigation banking. The technical panel evaluates each proposal against the criteria in the Notice of Funding Opportunity and ranks all proposals to make funding recommendations to NRCS leadership. NRCS State Conservationists also review relevant proposals for duplication of existing efforts and ethical concerns and provide overall recommendations. The NRCS Chief makes the final award decisions.

NRCS uses a grant agreement to provide program funds to each selected applicant. The project budget period, amount of Federal assistance, terms and conditions of the award, and reporting requirements are described and provided to the selected applicants as part of this process.