Agricultural Conservation Easement Program

The purposes of Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) are to restore, protect, and enhance wetlands on eligible land; protect the agricultural viability and related conservation values of eligible land by limiting nonagricultural uses of that land that negatively affect the agricultural uses and conservation values; and protect grazing uses and related conservation values by restoring or conserving eligible land. Under ACEP Agricultural Land Easement (ALE), NRCS provides cost-share assistance to eligible entities to purchase agricultural land easements from eligible landowners to protect the agricultural use, including grazing uses, and related conservation values on eligible lands. Under ACEP Wetland Reserve Easements (WRE), NRCS protects wetlands by purchasing directly from eligible landowners a reserved interest in eligible land or entering into 30-year contracts on acreage owned by Indian Tribes, in each case providing for the restoration, enhancement, and protection of wetlands and associated habitats. ACEP repealed the Farm and Ranch lands Protection Program (FRPP), Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP), and Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) but maintains the purposes of these predecessor easement programs. Easements and 30-year contracts previously enrolled under FRPP, GRP, and WRP, as well as easements previously enrolled in the previously repealed Farmland Protection Program (FPP) and the Emergency Wetlands Reserve Program (EWRP), are considered enrolled in ACEP.