Wetland Mitigation Banking Program
Competitive US grants for public bodies, Tribal governments and other bank sponsors to restore, enhance or create wetlands that supply mitigation credits to agricultural producers.
Esta oportunidade está atualmente disponível em inglês.
Develop and establish a wetland mitigation bank. Producers can buy its credits when unavoidable wetland impacts must be compensated elsewhere. The bank may restore a former wetland, enhance functions such as water quality or create a new wetland; preservation alone generally does not generate replacement credits.
The bank sponsor pays for development and remains responsible for long-term maintenance. The landowner keeps ownership and use of the site, while a conservation easement protects the wetland from incompatible damaging activities.
For the 2026 round, NRCS expects awards of $100,000 to $1 million for projects lasting one to four years. Applicants must commit a contribution covering at least 20% of total project costs. Cash or in-kind contributions can count. This must come from non-federal sources, except where another federal programme’s authorizing law specifically permits its funds to be used for this contribution. The grant cannot pay for land or conservation-easement purchases, and unmanned aircraft systems are not an eligible expense in this round.
Eligibility
For the 2026 round, eligible applicants include US state, city, county and special-district governments; federally recognized Tribal governments and other Tribal organizations; nonprofits; higher-education institutions; and businesses. Apply as a single entity. Individuals, foreign organizations and foreign public entities cannot apply, nor can partnerships or similar joint applicant groups; a partner may participate as a subrecipient. The applicant must operate and manage the bank with NRCS technical oversight. Consider local demand for agricultural mitigation credits before proposing a site.
Projects may take place in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa or the Northern Mariana Islands. A producer receiving project payments must control the relevant land, satisfy USDA conservation and payment eligibility rules, and normally have adjusted gross income no higher than $900,000; NRCS may waive that income limit case by case for environmentally sensitive land of special significance. Payments cannot duplicate other USDA conservation funding for the same practice.
Former wetlands restored to their original condition offer the strongest chance of producing credits. Created wetlands can require more engineering, structures or pumps and are generally harder and more expensive to develop and maintain.
How to apply
- Estado
- encerrado
- Encerra
- Restrições da rodada
- Submit through Grants.gov by 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time on September 8, 2026.
Submit the 2026 application through Grants.gov by 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time on September 8, 2026. Follow the notice and application guide for the required forms, project narrative, budget and attachments, and complete the necessary Grants.gov registration steps before submission. The applicant must have active registration in SAM, the federal System for Award Management. Direct application-content questions to tessa.garcia@usda.gov with USDA-NRCS-NHQ-WMBP-NOFO0001458 in the subject line; the notice instructs applicants not to contact programme staff about the competition.