Water Conservation Programs

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Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP)

Below is a handy, quick reference guide to the CREP program incentives, annual rental rates, and eligibility standards.

2025 CREP Brochure with Rental Rates and Incentive Payments

CREP Performance Report

A project performance report is submitted annually to the USDA's Farm Service Agency and the Kansas Legislature as a condition of the program's authorization. The program has been operating for 18 years. Past reports are available by contacting the Division of Conservation.

2024 Annual CREP Report (10/01/2023 to 09/30/2024)

Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program

Rattlesnake Creek

CREP Project Update - Rattlesnake Creek sub-basin area is added to accept enrollments!

In a continuing partnership agreement, the State of Kansas (KDA) and USDA have agreed to maintain the formal Memorandum of Understanding which outlines the legal and financial commitments for administering and implementing the Upper Arkansas River Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). Each party willingly commits financial resources to support, maintain, strengthen and improve water and land conservation efforts through CRP enrollments in the basin.

The latest MOA update in 2021 provided significant revisions to the current agreement by:

Expanding the authorized project area to include portions of the Rattlesnake Creek Sub-Basin;
Increasing the total allowable enrollment to 40,000 acres;
Authorizing the CP-43 ‘Prairie Strips' practice which can incorporate dryland farming in between approved conservation covers on certain soil types; and
Further defines and increases the State of Kansas funding commitment for "direct payments to participants" as ‘the USDA per-acre annual rental payment times 15 times 13.5 percent'.

CREP_RSC_S1_AuthIRR_20211230

Program Summary

As of September 30, 2024, a total of 142 state CREP contracts on 24,140 acres have been approved by the State of Kansas. These contracts have resulted in the permanent retirement of 49,146 acre-feet of annual water appropriation on 174 water rights from 217 wells. The contracts represent a total of $1,910,001 in one-time state sign-up incentive payments to producers over the past 18 years.

CREP in Kansas is a federal/state partnership created for enhancing water conservation efforts along the Upper Arkansas River (UAR) corridor from Hamilton County to Rice County. The Upper Arkansas River CREP has been officially approved and operating since 2007.

Kansas Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program map

The Upper Arkansas River CREP is a voluntary, incentive-based program allowing producers to enroll eligible irrigated acres in targeted areas for 14–15 year contracts with FSA, permanently retire the associated state water rights on the enrolled acres, and establish an approved land cover (typically a native grass) on the same acreage. The producer receives an annual rental payment, plus additional cost-share opportunities for specific conservation practices from FSA, plus an upfront incentive payment from DOC.

The specific project goals are to achieve, to the extent practicable when fully enrolled, the following objectives:

Enroll a maximum of 40,000 acres into CRP through this CREP in the project area (to be comprised of up to 37,000 irrigated cropland acres and up to 3,000 cropland acres of dryland center-pivot corners).
Reduce the consumption of ground water for irrigation in the project area by 65,000 acre-feet of permitted water appropriations based on the enrollment of 37,000 irrigated acres.
Reduce agricultural use of land that is unsuitable for dryland farming by enrolling 25,000 acres with a Wind Erodibility Index (WEI) of 134 or greater.
Reduce the amount of annual soil lost to erosion by approximately 150,000 tons per year. Reduce the total annual use of electricity by 16 million kilowatt hours when full enrollment is met.
Demonstrate ability to gradually transition from irrigation farming to non-irrigation farming through enrollment of 1,000 acres of land that has a Wind Erodibility Index of less than 134, and will be devoted to CRP practice CP43.

Eligible cropland conservation practices approved by FSA to meet the goals and objectives for this CREP project are as follows:

CP2, Establishment of Permanent Native Grasses

CP4D, Permanent Wildlife Habitat
CP9, Shallow Water Areas for Wildlife
CP21, Filter Strips
CP23, Wetland Restoration
CP23A, Wetland Restoration - Non-Floodplain
CP43, Prairie Strips

Annual Progress

Of great import, the State of Kansas received affirmation that FSA has conceptually approved the integration of a dryland farming conservation practice into the Upper Arkansas River CREP. This dryland practice concept incorporates significant wildlife habitat and water quality buffer protection benefits into a financially sound opportunity for landowners to transition out of irrigated agriculture, maintain profitability and sustain family legacy farming. This additional practice option is vital to participation from irrigating landowners.

Kansas is also proposing to allow a less stringent requirement for water right eligibilities that is expected to attract landowner interest and increase water savings over the long-term life of the project. DOC has now engaged a qualified engineering consulting firm to update the project’s original programmatic environmental assessment. FSA and DOC are also coordinating necessary updates to our federal-state MOU and Kansas statutory provisions with an expectation of a renewed program re-rollout by October 1, 2025 (FY2026).

With just two new enrollments and 551 acres added, FY2023 was another slow year for landowner interest and participation. However, the State of Kansas is working with both state and national FSA officials to coordinate development of a dryland conservation practice recently approved for the State of Colorado. The dryland practice concept incorporates significant wildlife habitat and water quality protection (buffer) benefits into a financially viable opportunity for the landowner to transition out of irrigated agriculture. A limited irrigation practice has also been proposed and is under review.

A new success story was started in 2023 when state NRCS officials agreed to provide an experimental practice waiver on a new enrollment in Gray County by allowing an existing alfalfa stand to serve as a cover crop. The research strategy is to keep the beneficial, deep alfalfa roots to hold and stabilize the windblown sand while grass seedlings are being protected and becoming established. More potential enrollees are expressing interest in adopting this approach -- this practice waiver will be monitored and considered for future peer demonstrations.

In 2024, FSA approved updated irrigated rental rates which are now at $149 - $200 per acre depending on location. The Division of Conservation's upfront signing incentive payments have also been substantially raised and will be approximately $47,952 - $68,688 per quarter section depending on location.

Below is a recent press release link about our CREP project. It followed a Western Kansas field tour by USDA's FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux on June 6, 2022.

USDA and State of Kansas Continue Conservation Successes With the Upper Arkansas River CREP

The Kansas Upper Arkansas River CREP project is the subject of an article featured on USDA's Economic Research Service website entitled “Amber Waves”. It is a summary of River a research project drawn from the following publication by A. B. Rosenberg entitled “Targeting of Water Rights Retirement Programs: Evidence from Kansas” which recently appeared in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. The focus of the research is a cost/benefit analysis of our CREP project as a water conservation tool and provides a very favorable evaluation of the program results to date. It is quite easy to read for the highpoints and can be viewed on the Incentives to Retire Water Rights Have Reduced Stress on the High Plains Aquifer USDA website.

Water Transition Assistance Program (WTAP)

Water Transition Assistance Program

Program Update – September 29, 2025

A 2025 WTAP enrollment will be held in the Wichita and Greeley Counties target areas during October 1 - November 15, 2025.

Enrollment Notice - Wichita and Greeley Counties - 2025

Enrollment Application Form - October 1, 2025

Water Right Dismissal Application Form - October 1, 2025

Water Right Reduction Application Form - October 1, 2025

WTAP - Summary of Water Right Retirements - Leoti

WTAP - Summary of Water Right Retirements - Tribune

The Water Right Transition Program (WTAP) Project Explained:

In 2021, a new WTAP target area was adopted in Greeley and Wichita counties. The purpose of adopting these high priority target areas is to reduce high aquifer depletion rates occurring near the communities of Tribune and Leoti. Since that time, WTAP enrollments have been restricted to this area.

Chief Engineer's GMD #1 Designation Order

Approved GMD No. 1 WTAP Target Area map

As a result of the 2024 WTAP enrollment, four irrigation water rights located within the Wichita County target area were permanently retired at a total cost of $734,452. The landowner bid price was $2,480 per ac-ft of Historic Consumptive Water Use (HWCU) available from 4 wells. The total amount of HCWU represented in the eight applications is 296.15 acre-feet.

Project Summary to Date
As a result of 38 approved applications to date, 50 irrigation wells and 8,606 irrigated acres have been voluntarily dismissed in 11 enrollment periods since 2008. A total of $6,230,380 in state funds has been expended in return for the permanent retirement of 13,655 acre-feet of annual water appropriation rights and 3,711 acre-feet of historic consumptive water use (HCWU) in these targeted regions at an average cost to the State of Kansas of $1,712 per acre-foot of HCWU.

As a result of the 2023 WTAP enrollment, twelve irrigation water rights located within the City of Leoti target area were permanently retired at a total cost of $1,592,982. Landowner bid prices ranged from $1,375 to $2,750 per ac-ft of Historic Consumptive Water Use (HWCU) available from 10 wells. The total amount of HCWU represented in the eight applications is 714.818 acre-feet. The twelve retried irrigation water rights authorized a total of 4,206 acre-feet of annual water appropriation. The amount of WTAP irrigation water right retirement in the GRASP project area now totals 5,356 acre-feet of annual water appropriation (866.175 acre feet HCWU) at a total investment cost of $1,895,519.

As a result of the 2022 WTAP enrollment, one irrigation water right located within the City of Leoti target area was permanently retired at a bid price of $1,995.00 per ac-ft of Historic Consumptive Water Use (HWCU), a total cost of $74,726.72. The water right authorized two irrigation wells for 297 acre-feet on 148.6 acres (37.457 ac-ft HCWU). An additional sponsorship of $30,000 forwarded through Playa Lakes Joint Venture significantly contributed to the final execution and success of this mutual agreement. As a result, the landowner will receive a total payment of $104,726.72 for the voluntary retirement of the water right.

As a result of the 2021 WTAP enrollment, DOC accepted a bid of $227,810 to voluntarily dismiss three irrigation water rights authorizing 853 acre-feet per year on 420 acres from two wells. The net value of historic consumptive water use which has been permanently retired from the Greeley County target area near the City of Tribune municipal well fields is 113.9 acre-feet.

WTAP enrollments are part of the larger Groundwater Recharge and Sustainability Project (GRASP) in the Wichita and Greeley counties area. GRASP is a coordinated effort between the Natural Resources Conservation Service and several state and local partners to provide enhanced financial incentives for implementing water conservation and playa restoration practices.

GRASP Enrollment Totals

Four new high priority target areas were approved in Greeley and Wichita counties in 2021 as part of the Groundwater Recharge and Sustainability Project (GRASP). Enrollments were conducted there in FY2022, FY2023, FY2024 and FY2025. As a result, DOC accepted landowner agreements which have voluntarily dismissed 20 irrigation water rights authorizing 6,566 ac-ft per year on 3,424 acres from 20 wells. The net value of HCWU which has been permanently retired in the GRASP project area is now 1162.36 acre-feet near the City of Tribune and City of Leoti municipal well fields.

Groundwater Recharge and Sustainability Project - GRASP

Water Right Transition Assistance Program Benefits Landowners and Water Resources

WTAP is a voluntary, incentive-based program that permanently retires privately held irrigation water rights in exchange for payment by the State of Kansas. It is intended to help restore aquifers and recover stream flows in critically depleted target areas. The 2022 Kansas Legislature extended WTAP until June 30, 2032 based on past results of the initial pilot project started in 2007 and the first 10 year program started in 2012.

The target areas currently designated include Rattlesnake Creek Sub-basin, Prairie Dog Creek Basin, and six “High Priority Areas” of Northwest Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 4. And added just recently - four high priority areas in the Western Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 1 in Wichita and Greeley counties.

At the current time, the Wichita and Greeley counties target areas are the only active enrollment project in FY2025.

WTAP bids in the Wichita and Greeley counties target areas cannot exceed $2,750 per acre-foot of the Historic Consumptive Water Use as calculated over the last ten years of actual annual water use of the water right(s) proposed for acceptance. Applications to accept partial water rights can also be considered. The award of WTAP grants for water right retirements is based on a competitive bidding process.

Applications which propose a financial contribution from a local entity may increase the priority of an application.