Wetland Reserve Program?

[SD51555]

Every so often I look for cheap land in SD. I came across a parcel that's got a WRP easement on it. I did some searching and couldn't find an exact list of retained rights and uses for the owner. Does anyone know if habitat management is allowed on a property like that? Specifically planting trees, cutting trees, mowing, spraying, pond building or deepening? I know it's limited in scope, I just wonder how limited.

 

[bwoods11]

Very limited what you can do.

Doubt you can plant any trees...
Food plots not likely. Buy the property real cheap or I suggest pass

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I looked into the restrictions a while back and I believe you're pretty limited in what you can do. A lot of the properties I looked at had portions of the property excluded from the program so you could have a few acres to build a house or cabin and the rest would be in the program. I would only make an offer assuming that you could do nothing with the property and any improvements would be a bonus. It would have to be pretty cheap because there would be no ag rental or timber income associated with a property like that. But in SD, you could have the best hunting in the county on a WRP type property since you would likely have the best cover around.

 

[SD51555]

It's high and low. Looks like a winner for duck hunting, but not much else. They're asking $1500/ac. It's not even in my wheelhouse at a 1/3 of that price if I can't cut and replant the trees, and there are no fish in the water.

http://www.landwatch.com/Roberts-County-South-Dakota-Land-for-sale/pid/200696027

 

[bwoods11]

$300-400 an acre is what it should sell for, but that is not always the case. I've seen some farms go for $1000 an acre, but often follows up with buyers remorse. It depends on the situation. If the guy is wealthy and has money to burn, no biggie.

In Iowa they allowed tree plantings on WRP so the bottom fields grew up with thick oak/hackberry/walnut/cottonwood and other trees. Those parcels are now good deer hunting farms.

 

[Tree Spud]

Every so often I look for cheap land in SD. I came across a parcel that's got a WRP easement on it. I did some searching and couldn't find an exact list of retained rights and uses for the owner. Does anyone know if habitat management is allowed on a property like that? Specifically planting trees, cutting trees, mowing, spraying, pond building or deepening? I know it's limited in scope, I just wonder how limited.

Yes to all of the above. Have had a WRP easement on our property for over 10 years now you just need a Compatible Use Permit. We have planted over 10k trees, dug an additional pond with cost sharing with the NRCS, maintained trails, and just had our Food Plot CUP renewed for another 10 years (you can put up to 5% of the easement into food plots). To get the CUP you work with you local office and develop a plan for the items you would like to do, pretty easy.

 

[bwoods11]

I think each contract and each state has different guidelines? Wisconsin may allow more than MN.

Don't quote me on this, but I heard somewhere that the WRP program is not a part of the future conservation plan??