CREP Application Process
CREP is a Farm Service Agency (FSA) program. Technical services are provided by Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). In Klamath County, NRCS contracts with Klamath Soil & Water Conservation District (KSWCD) to provide the technical service. Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) is a financial partner in the program, so they provide the funds to pay for the technician, plus they pay a significant portion of the cost-share. Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) is also a partner, and responsible for the tree-planting planning phase. Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) is also involved in the mix.
Let's take another quick look at those acronyms: CREP, FSA, NRCS, KSWCD, OWEB, ODF, and ODA. Needless to say, the application process can be lengthy.
First, the applicant (that's you) must submit a completed CRP-2A. This is the application form, on which is listed your name, address and phone number; your Farm and Tract numbers; the acreage you are offering for enrollment; the soil types; and a few other bits of information we need to get started.
Submitting the application starts a clock ticking, during which time the various agencies are supposed to coordinate something like 35 different steps. A hitch along the way at any one of those steps will cause delays in the process. In a best case scenario, where absolutely nothing goes wrong, the application process would probably take a couple months or more.
FSA gets the application first. They check their computers to confirm that you are an eligible landowner. If "you" are a corporation, a trust, or anything other than just "you", that can take awhile. In some cases, you may have a lot more paperwork to fill out before your eligibility can be determined.
Once it has been determined you are eligible, it must be verified that the land itself is eligible. This is usually not a problem; it either is or it isn't! Likewise, the waterway's eligibility must be ascertained, but by the current set of rules essentially every waterway in the State is eligible, so that's not a problem, either.
After all the eligibilities have been completed, the CREP Technician will get the application. He will call you to schedule a site visit. You and the Technician will discuss your various options, and your visions for the property will start to come into focus. The Technician will submit a form to initiate cultural resource inventories and endangered species consultations.
A conservation plan will be developed. This can take anywhere from a few days (rarely) to several months (not so rarely). The Technician's primary consideration will be to make the plan fit YOUR vision for the property, NOT to force a program down your throat. Sometimes that isn't easy. The final plan has to be approved by a lot of people: You, the Technician, the KSWCD board, the NRCS District Conservationist, and the FSA County Committee.
To avoid potential problems for you, the plan should be extremely detailed. It will include various "job sheets" explaining how to do things like build a fence and plant a tree. Now, obviously, you already know how to plant a tree and build a fence. What you may NOT know is what the PROGRAM specifies you have to do, and all those details are included in the job sheets. These are the documents which will be checked when you tell us you are finished and want to be paid!
It is to your advantage that the job sheets be detailed. If they say your bottom wire must be 16 inches above the ground, and you build it so it's 16 inches above the ground, you don't have to worry about some new guy coming in and deciding you should have built it 18 inches above the ground!
Likewise with the tree planting, the forester who develops that part of the plan will specify what you have to do to prepare the site, how you need to control weeds, whether to water the trees, etc. You have to do everything the way the job sheets describe it, but you will have an opportunity to provide input every step of the way while these things are being developed, so make sure you take advantage of that opportunity.
Once your plan is finished, and assuming the cultural resource inventory and endangered species consultations did not encounter any problems, your entire contract package is reviewed again by NRCS. Then it is reviewed by FSA. Usually it comes back to the Technician to make some changes, with your involvement. Then it's reviewed again by NRCS and FSA. When the entire package is deemed acceptable by the local office, it goes to Portland for that office to review.