Successful Award – FY22 Tri-state WREP Proposal

The Tri-state Conservation Partnership (TCP) is celebrating the November 3 announcement of a $5M award for its FY22 Wetland Reserve Enhancement Partnership (WREP) project proposal. The announcement by NRCS marks successful funding of a fourth phase of the multi-year Tri-state WREP project strategy. The core focus of the Tri-state WREP project is the restoration of forested wetlands within priority portions of the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. It primarily targets acquisition of easements adjacent to or in the immediate vicinity of existing, permanently protected conservation estate (i.e., state, federal and wetland reserve easement tracts).

Since its inception, the project strategy has been well supported, receiving funding for the initial phase in 2017 with a $4.8M award. The Phase II proposal received an additional award of $10M in 2019. Combined, the first two phases have resulted in restoration of 3,864 permanently protected wetland acres. In FY21, Phase III of the project received an award of $19.5 million, which will restore an additional 3,298 wetland acres. The FY21 proposal also incorporated a new component, setting aside a unique funding pool aimed at enrolling a minimum of one disadvantaged or limited-resource landowner within the MAV in each project state (AR, LA & MS).

The recent FY22 Phase IV project award will seek to enroll an additional 1,500 acres of wetlands as part of a multi-year effort in the project area. The FY22 project will also set aside 50% or $2.5M of the funding in a separate pool, seeking to enroll a minimum of 750 MAV acres to specifically target enrollment of historically underserved landowners.