§ 1410.103 - Eligible land.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, in order to be eligible to be placed in the CRP, land must—

(1) Have been annually planted or considered planted to an agricultural commodity in 2 of the 5 crop years, from 1992 through 1996;

(2) Be physically possible to be planted in a normal manner, at the time of enrollment, to an agricultural commodity;

(3) Be a predominantly highly erodible field; and

(4) If in a redefined field, be a manageable unit which meets the minimum acreage requirements, as determined by the Deputy Administrator, for the county. This requirement shall not apply for areas, as specified in the contract, to be used for permanent wildlife habitat, filterstrips, contour grass strips, sod waterways, field windbreaks, shelterbelts, living snowfences, or vegetation on salinity producing areas.

(b) A field or portion of a field determined to be suitable for use as a filter strip may be eligible to be placed in the CRP, even if it does not meet the requirement of paragraph (a)(3) of this section. The participant must agree to grow permanent grass, forbs, shrubs or trees on such field or portion of such field. A field or portion of a field may be considered to be suitable for use as a filter strip only if it—

(1) Otherwise meets the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section;

(2) Is located adjacent to a stream having perennial flow, other waterbody of a permanent nature (such as a lake, pond, wetlands and sinkhole), or seasonal stream, or wetlands excluding such areas as gullies or sod waterways;

(3) Is capable, when permanent grass, forbs, shrubs or trees are grown, of substantially reducing sediment that otherwise would be delivered to the adjacent stream or waterbody; and

(4) Is 1.0 to 1.5 chain lengths (66 to 99 feet) in width. Such width may be adjusted, to the extent necessary to meet NRCS Field Office Technical Guide criteria, to accomplish the desired environmental effect.

(c) A field which has evidence of scour erosion caused by out-of-bank flows of water, as determined by NRCS, may be eligible to be placed in the CRP, even if the field does not meet the requirement of paragraph (a)(3) of this section.

(1) In order for land to be eligible for enrollment in the CRP under paragraph (c) of this section, such land must otherwise meet the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section.

(2) Such land must in addition:

(i) Be expected to flood a minimum of once every 10 years; and

(ii) Have evidence of damage as a result of such scour erosion.

(3) To the extent practicable, only cropland areas of a field may be enrolled in the CRP under this paragraph. The entire cropland area of an eligible field may be enrolled if:

(i) The size of the field is 9 acres or less; or,

(ii) More than one third of the cropland in the field is land which lies between the water source and the inland limit of the scour erosion.

(4) If the full field is not eligible for enrollment under this paragraph that portion of the field eligible for enrollment shall be that portion of the cropland between the water body and the inland limit of the scour erosion together with, as determined by the Deputy Administrator, additional areas which would otherwise be unmanageable and would be isolated by the eligible areas.

(5) Cropland approved for enrollment under this paragraph shall be planted to an appropriate tree species approved by NRCS, unless tree planting is determined to be inappropriate by NRCS, in which case the eligible cropland shall be devoted to another acceptable permanent vegetative cover approved by NRCS and the Deputy Administrator.

(d) Notwithstanding paragraph (a)(3) of this section, the following land may also, as determined by the Deputy Administrator, be considered eligible for the CRP under the provisions of this subpart, provided that all other provisions of paragraph (a) of this section are met.

(1) Land contributing to the degradation of water quality or posing an on-site or off-site environmental threat to water quality if such land remains in production so long as water quality objectives, with respect to such land, cannot be obtained under the Agricultural Water Quality Incentives Program (AWQIP).

(2) Land devoted to living snowfences, windbreaks, wildlife habitat, shelterbelts or filterstrips with trees or shrubs;

(3) Land devoted to newly created permanent grass waterways or contour grass sod strips created after November 28, 1990, which are established and maintained according to an approved conservation plan;

(4) Non-irrigated or irrigated cropland which produce, as determined by the Deputy Administrator, saline seeps or which are functionally related to such saline seeps, or where a rising water table contributes to increased levels of salinity at or near the ground surface.

(e) Federal lands, lands acquired by an agency of the Federal Government, or by a quasi-federal entity are ineligible for the CRP.

(f) Land otherwise eligible for the CRP shall not be eligible if the land is:

(1) Subject to a deed or other restriction prohibiting the production of agricultural commodities, unless otherwise approved by the Deputy Administrator; or

(2) Farmed wetlands which may be eligible for the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) under 7 CFR part 620, except this restriction shall not apply to small farmed wetlands contained in, and are a part of, fields that are otherwise eligible for CRP as determined by CCC.