[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 7, Volume 7] [Revised as of January 1, 2002] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 7CFR783.7] [Page 479] TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE CHAPTER VII--FARM SERVICE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE PART 783--1997 TREE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM--Table of Contents Sec. 783.7 Eligible costs. (a) Payments will be made only to the extent specifically provided for in this part. An eligible owner shall be reimbursed under this part, to the extent of the availability of funds, for an amount not to exceed 100 percent of the eligible costs of replanting or rehabilitating trees or vines, not in excess of the number of trees or vines constituting the qualifying loss. Such reimbursement may be based on average costs or the actual costs for the replanting, or rehabilitating practices, as determined by the Deputy Administrator. If the costs are to replace eligible trees or eligible vines, the costs reimbursed under this part shall only be for replacement seedlings or cuttings of a size and quality determined by Deputy Administrator to be sufficient for that purpose. The costs for which cost-sharing shall be permitted shall only be the costs of: (1) The seedlings or cuttings, eligible tree or vine rehabilitation measures; (2) Site preparation measures and debris handling measures that are normal cultural practices for the type of individual stand being re- established and necessary to ensure successful plant survival; (3) Chemicals and nutrients if needed to ensure successful plant survival; and (4) Labor used to physically plant or rehabilitate such seedlings or cuttings as based on standard labor rates as determined by the county committee. (b) Costs eligible for reimbursement under this part specifically exclude items such as fencing, irrigation, irrigation equipment, measures to protect seedlings from wildlife, and general land and eligible tree or vine stand improvements, and re-establishing structures and windscreens. (c) When eligible trees or eligible vines are replanted instead of rehabilitated, the types planted may be different than those originally planted if the new types have the same general end use as determined by the county committee. Payments will be based on the lesser of rates established to plant the types actually lost or the cost to establish the trees or vines actually used. Eligible costs shall not include costs incurred for planting species of seedlings or cuttings differing significantly from the species of the seedlings or cuttings constituting the qualifying loss except as approved by the Deputy Administrator. If such substitution is approved, eligible costs shall be the lesser of: (1) The actual eligible costs incurred; or (2) The estimated eligible costs which otherwise would have been incurred to replant the species constituting the qualifying loss. (d) Costs eligible for reimbursement under this part shall only include expenditures approved within the limits set by this part, including, but not limited to, those limits set forth in paragraph (a) of this section. Eligible costs include costs incurred before an application for payment is submitted. Eligible costs shall only include those costs for which the eligible owner has submitted documentation determined by the county committee to adequately document such costs. The county committee shall limit TAP payments for eligible costs at the minimum level to re-establish an individual stand, as determined by the State committee. (e) Payments shall not exceed the lesser of 100 percent of the eligible costs actually incurred by an eligible applicant for replanting or rehabilitating the qualifying loss, or the average cost to replant or rehabilitate the qualifying loss, as determined by the Deputy Administrator.