Maine Grassland Reserve Program (GRP)

The Grassland Reserve Program (GRP) is a voluntary program that helps landowners restore and protect grassland, pastureland and other lands, and provides assistance for rehabilitating grassland and conserving water resources.  The goal is to assist producers in conserving valuable grassland under a threat of conversion to non-agricultural or cropland use.

Nationally, privately-owned grassland and shrublands cover more than 525 million acres in the United States, with over 200,000 of those acres being in Maine.  This is the first time that the USDA has directed financial resources and technical expertise to help landowners protect and restore these lands.

When properly managed, grasslands can result in cleaner water supplies, healthier riparian areas and reduced sediment loadings in streams and other water bodies.  These lands are vital for the production of livestock forage and provide forage and habitat for maintaining healthy wildlife populations.  These lands also add to the beauty of the landscape, provide scenic vistas and open space, provide for recreational activities and protect the soil from water and wind erosion.

GRP offers producers several enrollment options: permanent easements, 30-year easements, rental agreements (10, 15, 20 or 30-year duration) and restoration agreements.  For permanent easements, USDA makes a payment based on the fair  market value of the property less the grazing value.  For 30-year easements, USDA pays 30 percent of what would be paid for a permanent easement.  For rental agreements, USDA pays 75 percent of the grazing value in annual payments for the length of the agreement.  For restoration agreements, USDA provides up to 75 percent of the restoration cost.

To participate in GRP, offers must be private land with preference given to parcels of at least 40 contiguous acres.

There is no funding for this program in Fiscal Year 2008.

Contact

Bill Yamartino
(207)990-9100, Extension 3
E-mail: bill.yamartino@me.usda.gov

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