WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 2014 – ON MONDAY, Sept. 8, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will host a media conference call to make a major announcement on conservation funding to help landowners protect and restore key farmlands, grasslands and wetlands across the nation. The USDA initiative will benefit wildlife and promote outdoor recreation and related sectors of the economy.

The funding is provided through the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), which was created in the 2014 Farm Bill to protect critical wetlands and encourage producers to keep lands in farming and ranching. Through ACEP, private or tribal landowners and eligible conservation partners working with landowners can request assistance from USDA to protect and enhance agricultural land through an agricultural or wetland easement.

ACEP consolidates three former Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) easement programs – Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, Grasslands Reserve Program and Wetlands Reserve Program – into two components. One component protects farmlands and grasslands, and the other protects and restores agricultural wetlands.

Monday, Sept. 8, 2014
1:45 p.m. CT

WHAT: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will host a media conference call to make a major announcement on conservation funding to help landowners protect and restore key farmlands, grasslands and wetlands across the nation.

DIAL-IN:       888-469-1929

PASSCODE: CONSERVATION (Given Verbally)

Trouble number: 202-720-8560 

To join the Q&A portion of the meeting, callers are instructed to press *1 on their touch tone phone.