Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)

• Pays a yearly rental payment in exchange for farmers removing environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and planting species that will improve environmental quality.

Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP)

• Targets high-priority conservation issues identified by government and non-governmental organizations. Farm land that falls under these conservation issues is removed from production in exchange for annual rental payments.

Other NRCS Programs

Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP)

• Helps landowners, land trusts, and other entities protect, restore, and enhance wetlands, grasslands, and working farms and ranches through conservation easements.

National Watershed Programs

Conservation Technical Assistance Programs

Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)

• Promotes coordination of NRCS conservation activities with partners that offer value-added contributions to expand our collective ability to address on-farm, watershed, and regional natural resource concerns.
• Through RCPP, NRCS seeks to co-invest with partners to implement projects that demonstrate innovative solutions to conservation challenges and provide measurable improvements and outcomes tied to the resource concerns they seek to address.

Bakken Development and Working Lands Program (BDWLP)

• For landowners in oil producing counties
• Assistance
  • Developing prescribed grazing strategies
  • Recommendations for cover crops
  • Reclamation of oil and infrastructure sites
  • Establishing vegetation and habitat around energy development sites
• Cost-share
  • Grass seeding
  • Installation of range infrastructure
  • Implementation of restoration activities

Working Grassland Partnership

• The Working Grassland Partnership (WGP) program promotes livestock grazing as a management tool for improving grassland bird conservation. 
• The WGP will provide landowners with voluntary options to help develop expiring CRP acres into a livestock grazing systems that will also benefit grassland birds.
• The WGP program is made possible through a grant from the Outdoor Heritage Fund (OHF).

Small Grant Program

The Trust is seeking grant proposals to assist in the implementation of our mission and the education and outreach elements identified in our Strategic Plan Statement of Need, as follows:

• Public awareness and education on the values of wetlands, grasslands, and riparian areas; the importance of maintaining soil health and the interconnection with water quality and the overall health of our natural resources.
• Public awareness and education on the importance of North Dakota natural resources.

ConserveND – 40% Tax Credit

• A North Dakota tax break gives you a 40 percent tax credit for gifts to the North Dakota Natural Resources Trust Endowment Fund. Your $5,000 gift could result in $1,400 of federal tax savings and $2,000 in state tax savings or a net cost of only $1,600!

Long-Term/Permanent Land Protection

• Long-term protection of land for conservation purposes is extremely controversial in North Dakota.  Based on a variety of public policy misunderstandings and political overreaction, our state has the most restrictive laws in the nation on conservation, requiring lengthy public hearing and advisory processes and ultimately gubernatorial approval for land acquisition.  This is the case even though all offers by private landowners to sell land for conservation are voluntary.
• Acquisition – NDNRT
  • The Trust does not purchase or manage land, but rather facilitates acquisitions with multiple partners.
• Trust Term Easements
  • The NDNRT has offered term easements of 30 and 50 years.  Trust easements provide payment flexibility, a total or partial buyback provision and flexibility in easement terms.
• Acquisition – USFWS
  • The USFWS occasionally purchases land from willing sellers to add to the National Wildlife Refuge System.  Purchased land usually ends up as a Waterfowl Production Area, open to public hunting and general outdoor recreation.

Habitat Restoration Programs

The Trust has a long history of working with landowners to preserve, restore, manage, and enhance wetlands in North Dakota.  The Trust is committed to working with landowners and partners on a variety of wetland and grassland projects across the state.

• Wetland Restoration
• Grassland Restoration