Working Lands for Wildlife

Through Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW), USDA uses a win-win approach to systematically target conservation efforts to improve agricultural and forest productivity which enhance wildlife habitat on working landscapes. Target species are used as barometers for success because their habitat needs are representative of healthy, functioning ecosystems where conservation efforts benefit a much broader suite of species.

Through the Farm Bill, NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to participants who voluntarily make improvements to their working lands while the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) provides participants with regulatory predictability for the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This innovative approach empowers landowners with a means to make on-the-ground improvements and provides peace of mind that no matter the legal status of a species, they can keep their working lands working.

This model has proven extremely popular with private landowners across the United States. To date, WLFW has helped producers conserve more than 7.1 million acres of wildlife habitat and has helped many species such as the greater sage-grouse in the West and the New England cottontail in the Northeast. For both of these species — in large part because of voluntary conservation efforts on private lands — the FWS determined listing under ESA was not warranted. Beginning in 2017, NRCS expanded this model and now includes 19 landscapes covering 48 States.

Conservation Model

The conservation model builds on lessons learned in conservation over the years and includes:

• Trust and Credibility: NRCS takes a community, grassroots approach to conservation that's based on the principles of neighborliness.

• Shared Vision: NRCS-recommended conservation practices benefit both wildlife and agriculture.

• Strategic Approach: NRCS invests resources efficiently, where the biological returns are the highest.

• Accountability: NRCS and conservation partners use science to measure effectiveness of conservation and to quantify outcomes.

• Leverage: NRCS brings together partners to multiply investments to achieve more conservation.

Regulatory Predictability: Through WLFW, NRCS partners with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide regulatory predictability under the Endangered Species Act. Similar to an insurance policy, predictability provides landowners with peace of mind that no matter the legal status of a species, they can keep their working lands working with an NRCS conservation plan in place.

​WLFW is currently active in 48 states, encompassing 19 different landscapes. Eight national and 11 state-identified species are used to focus individual projects that meet both the needs of the species as well as those of the agricultural operations. Individual species are used as barometers for healthy, functioning landscapes where conservation efforts also benefit a multitude of additional species as well.

• Greater Sage-Grouse

• Lesser Prairie-Chicken

• Gopher Tortoise

• Golden-Winged Warbler

• Southwestern Willow Flycatcher

• Monarch Butterflies

• WLFW Projects (State-Identified Projects

Conservation efforts on private lands are making a difference across the country, from the sagebrush country of the West to the forests of Appalachia and New England. For these stories and many more, download the agency's WLFW magazine, A Partnership for Conserving Landscapes, Communities & Wildlife.

Working Lands for Wildlife is a targeting framework, not a program with its own application or its own eligibility rules — so you are really applying to EQIP or CSP, and their eligibility governs.

Who. For EQIP, the program most WLFW money flows through: "Farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who own or rent agricultural land are eligible." EQIP assistance "can be used on all types of agricultural operations, including: Conventional and organic; Specialty crops and commodity crops; Forestry and wildlife; Historically underserved farmers; Livestock operations." Individual producers are eligible — you do not need to be an organization or a partner. NRCS frames the entry question plainly: "Do you farm or ranch and want to make improvements to the land that you own or lease?"

Where — and this is the real gate. "WLFW is currently active in 48 states," but the geographic test is much finer than a state: "Eight national and 14 state-identified initiatives are used to focus individual projects that meet both the needs of the species as well as those of the agricultural operations." Named national initiatives include Greater Sage-Grouse, Gopher Tortoise, Golden-Winged Warbler and Monarch Butterflies, with biome frameworks for "the Great Plains grasslands, western sagebrush country, and for the Central and Eastern grasslands and savannas within 25 states in the northern bobwhite range." If your land is not inside a target species' project area, there is nothing here for you — check the WLFW initiatives map with your local NRCS office before anything else.

Paperwork you will need. NRCS will work with you "to fill out an AD 1026, which ensures a conservation plan is in place before lands with highly erodible soils are farmed. It also ensures that identified wetland areas are protected." And: "To maintain eligibility for most USDA programs, producers must comply with wetland conservation provisions."

Priority audiences. "Increased and advance payments available for historically underserved producers (beginning, limited resource, socially disadvantaged, and military veterans.)" That is a preference, not a restriction.

The non-cash benefit worth knowing about. Through WLFW, NRCS partners with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide Endangered Species Act regulatory predictability — "predictability provides landowners with peace of mind that no matter the legal status of a species, they can keep their working lands working with an NRCS conservation plan in place."

No thresholds published. Neither the WLFW page nor the EQIP page publishes an acreage minimum, income floor or ceiling, or years-of-experience requirement.

How to apply. "To apply for one of the sub-programs under WLFW, reach out to your local NRCS service center." "Applications for NRCS conservation programs are accepted on a continuous basis; however, customers should apply by state-specific ranking dates to be considered for the current funding cycle."

No payment rate, cost-share percentage, award ceiling, or contract length is published on the Working Lands for Wildlife page. WLFW is a targeting framework, not a funding pot with its own terms: "NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to participants who voluntarily make improvements to their working lands." The money actually flows through the underlying Farm Bill conservation programs (EQIP and CSP), and the dollar figures live in your state's NRCS payment schedules — not here.

What the page does tell you about how you get paid:

• "If you're selected, you can choose whether to sign the contract for the work to be done."

• "Once you sign the contract, you'll be provided standards and specifications for completing the practice or practices, and then you will have a specified amount of time to implement. Once the work is implemented and inspected, you'll be paid the rate of compensation for the work if it meets NRCS standards and specifications." So it is reimbursement after inspection, at a per-practice rate — you carry the cost first.

• "Applications for NRCS conservation programs are ranked and funded at key times throughout the year."

The non-cash benefit is the real draw for many landowners: through WLFW, NRCS partners with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide regulatory predictability under the Endangered Species Act — "Similar to an insurance policy, predictability provides landowners with peace of mind that no matter the legal status of a species, they can keep their working lands working with an NRCS conservation plan in place."

WLFW is active in 48 states across eight national and 14 state-identified initiatives (greater sage-grouse, gopher tortoise, golden-winged warbler, monarch butterflies, and state projects). To get an actual number, contact your local USDA Service Center and ask for the current EQIP payment schedule for the practices in your plan.

To apply for one of the sub-programs under WLFW, reach out to your local NRCS service center.

• Getting Started with NRCS