[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 7, Volume 6]
[Revised as of January 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 7CFR623.1]

[Page 430-431]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
   CHAPTER VI--NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF 
                               AGRICULTURE
 
PART 623_EMERGENCY WETLANDS RESERVE PROGRAM--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 623.1  Purpose and scope.




Sec.
623.1 Purpose and scope.
623.2 Definitions.
623.3 Eligible person.
623.4 Eligible land.
623.5 Ineligible land.
623.6 Transfer of lands from the CRP to the EWRP.
623.7 Terms of the easement.
623.8 Easement value.
623.9 Easement priority.
623.10 Application to participate.
623.11 Obligations of the landowner.
623.12 Payments to landowners by NRCS.
623.13 Wetland Reserve Plan of Operations.
623.14 Easement modifications.
623.15 Transfer of land.
623.16 Monitoring and enforcement of easement terms and conditions.
623.17 Violations and Remedies.
623.18 Access to land.
623.19 Assignments.
623.20 Appeals.
623.21 Scheme and device.
623.22 Filing of false claims.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 3837-3837f; Pub. L. 103-75, Chapter 1, 107 
Stat. 739, 742.

    Source: 58 FR 62497, Nov. 29, 1993, unless otherwise noted.


    (a) The regulations in this part set forth the policies, procedures, 
and requirements for the Emergency Wetlands Reserve Program (EWRP). 
Under the EWRP, NRCS will make offers to purchase wetland conservation 
easements from persons owning croplands that were damaged by the 1993 
Midwest floods if those lands have the potential for restoration to 
wetland conditions and if the owner voluntarily agrees to restore and 
maintain those conditions. The easements are to be purchased to promote 
the restoration and maintenance of wetland characteristics, such as 
hydrologic conditions of inundation or saturation of the soil and 
hydrophytic vegetation. The functions and values of the wetlands for 
wildlife habitat, water quality improvement, flood water retention, 
floodway enhancement, ground water recharge, open space, aesthetic 
values, and environmental education will thus be promoted. The wetland 
conservation easements will permanently prohibit use of the affected 
land as cropland. Additionally, the easement shall require permanent 
maintenance of the wetland conditions, except in the case of natural 
disaster.
    (b) The EWRP is available only in the following States: Illinois, 
Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and 
Wisconsin. Certain cropland areas within these States have been 
determined to have been inundated by the Midwest floods of 1993. As more 
fully defined and described in

[[Page 431]]

this part, eligible land may include farmed wetlands or prior converted 
wetlands (wetlands converted prior to December 23, 1985), together with 
adjacent lands on which the wetlands are functionally dependent so long 
as the likelihood of successful restoration of such land and the 
potential wetland values merit inclusion in the program with reasonable 
costs.