Conservation Practices Program (CPP)

Since its inception in Fiscal Year 1986, the CPP cost-share program has enabled the construction of several thousand soil erosion control projects in every county of the State. The end result is a savings of millions of tons of soil annually on hundreds of thousands of acres of land. This investment of financial resources by the State is making a significant contribution to cleaner water and to the goal of T (tolerable soil loss levels) by 2000 and the control of ephemeral/gully erosion on all agricultural lands. In June of 1995, the Governor and the Illinois Legislature created Conservation 2000 to support a comprehensive and long term approach to conserving, protecting, and managing Illinois’ natural resources. In 1999, the legislature authorized the extension of Conservation 2000 through 2009. As part of the Agricultural Resource Enhancement program of Conservation 2000, the CPP was established.

CPP objectives include:
1. Assist landowners with sheet and rill erosion exceeding “T”, or with ephemeral/gully erosion, in constructing conservation practices that conserve soil, protect water quality and reduce flooding.
2. Target cost-share monies to deliver effective and cost-efficient assistance to meet soil erosion control goals and provide the greatest public benefit possible in conserving soil productivity and protecting rivers, streams and lakes.
3. Provide incentives to eligible landowners for the adoption of nutrient management practices that minimize the transport of nutrients to surface water bodies and protect water quality in high priority, eligible watersheds of the state.

All landowners are eligible to apply for and receive cost-share assistance provided they are a cooperator with the District and have on file a conservation plan approved by the District. To be eligible for cost share assistance or financial incentives, the land upon which a land user intends to install or implement eligible conservation practices must:
· Be experiencing sheet, rill, ephemeral or gully erosion; or
· Be located in a high priority, eligible watershed.

Eligible practices include grassed waterways, grade stabilization structures, no-till and strip-till planting systems, water and sediment control basins and nutrient management plans. These practices are cost shared at a rate of 60% on structural practices and a flat per acre rate is established for cultural practices.