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Forest Land Enhancement Program (FLEP)

Purpose:

The Forest Land Enhancement Program (FLEP) was established to replace the Forestry Incentives Program (FIP) and the Stewardship Incentives Program (SIP) which were repealed in the 2002 Farm Bill.  FLEP encourages the long-term sustainability of non-industrial private forestlands by providing financial, technical and educational assistance by state forestry agencies to assist private landowners in actively managing their land.

Administering Agency:

USDA Forest Service

Forest Landowner Eligibility:

To be eligible for cost-share assistance, an owner of non-industrial private forest (NIPF) must develop and implement a management plan (addressing certain criteria) that provides for the treatment of no more than 1,000 acres of non-industrial private forestlands.  The acreage limit may be increased to 5,000 acres if it is determined that the treatment of additional acres will result in significant public benefit.  The management plan must be for no less than 10 years and must be approved by the State Forester.  All NIPF lands are eligible for technical and educational assistance.

Assistance Offered:

The maximum FLEP cost-share payment for any practice may be up to 75 percent.  The aggregate payment to any one landowner through 2007 may not exceed $100,000.

Additional Information:

http://www.fs.fed.us/spf/coop/programs/loa/flep.shtml

http://www.fs.fed.us/spf/coop/library/FLEPbriefing.pdf