California
Cost Share Opportunities and Options
Audubon
Audubon Conservation Ranching (ACR)
Audubon’s Conservation Ranching (ACR) program partners with ranchers to maintain native grasslands and bird-friendly habitat. Participating ranches commit to sustainable land stewardship practices that protect habitat for grassland birds, pollinators, and other wildlife. Supporting Audubon-certified beef and bison helps incentivize habitat conservation at the ranch scale.
Website
Ducks Unlimited
DU Conservation Programs
The Western Boreal Forest, Prairie Pothole Region, and California’s Central Valley and Coast are critical to California waterfowl hunters. California serves as a key wintering ground for Pacific Flyway waterfowl, with birds breeding across the boreal forests of Canada and the Prairie Pothole Region before migrating south. Ducks Unlimited has conserved 808,046 acres in California with 24,457 members.
Website
Farm Service Agency
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) provides annual rental payments and cost-share assistance (up to 50%) to landowners who establish approved conservation cover – such as native grasses, trees, riparian buffers, or pollinator habitat – on eligible cropland. Continuous CRP signup for high-priority practices is available year-round through local FSA county offices.
Contact Information
Contact your local county office for more information.
Website
Habitat One
Free Food Plot Seed
To help ensure wildlife have access to adequate nutrition during these challenging conditions, Habitat One has established a Free Food Plot Seed Program. This program is designed to assist landowners in providing reliable winter food and cover for wildlife through the establishment of dedicated food plots.
Contact
Brooke Fricke, Operations and Administration Manager | Phone: 308-362-7061 | Email: brooke@habitat-one.org
Mule Deer Foundation
Private Lands Program
The Mule Deer Foundation (MDF) is dedicated to restoring, improving, and protecting habitat for mule deer, black-tailed deer, and other wildlife. MDF works with hunters, landowners, and wildlife agencies to fund conservation projects, support research, and advocate for sound wildlife management policies in California.
Website
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
EQIP provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers to address natural resource concerns and deliver environmental benefits, including wildlife habitat improvement. Eligible practices include prescribed grazing, brush management, native grass and forb establishment, wetland restoration, and pollinator habitat. EQIP also offers Conservation Incentive Contracts (CIC), which provide additional incentive payments for ongoing management of priority resource concerns, including wildlife habitat.
Payment Rates
Cost-share rates vary by practice and are set annually by the state NRCS office. Many wildlife habitat practices are eligible for enhanced incentive payments through EQIP-CIC.
Contact Information
Contact your local county office for more information.
Website
nrcs.usda.gov/contact/state-office-contacts/california-state-office
Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)
CSP rewards producers who maintain and improve existing conservation systems and adopt additional conservation activities to address priority resource concerns – including wildlife habitat enhancement – on working agricultural land and non-industrial private forest land.
Payment Rates
Annual payments are based on the conservation performance of the producer’s entire operation, with enhanced payments available for installing new conservation activities.
Contact Information
Contact your local county office for more information.
Website
nrcs.usda.gov/contact/state-office-contacts/california-state-office
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Wildlife Habitat Cost-Share Program
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wildlife Habitat Cost-Share Program reimburses a portion of expenses incurred by landowners for developing wildlife habitat under an approved habitat management plan. Landowners must own or control at least 5 acres, and habitat improvements – such as food plots, water developments, nesting cover, and brush management – must be maintained for a minimum of three years. Reimbursement is based on CDFW’s published habitat development reimbursement rates, subject to annual funding caps.
SHARE Program
The Shared Habitat Alliance for Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) program compensates private landowners – up to $30 per acre – for voluntarily opening their land to public wildlife-dependent recreation, such as hunting and fishing access.
Contact Information
Contact your local CDFW regional office for program applications and eligibility details.
Website
Pheasants Forever
Pheasants Forever Habitat Programs
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever chapters in California work with landowners on habitat improvement projects, including upland bird habitat restoration, food plots, and native grass and forb plantings. Pheasants Forever Habitat Specialists also provide free technical assistance to help landowners enroll in Farm Bill conservation programs and design wildlife habitat projects.
Website
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF)
Habitat Enhancement Grant Program
Since 1984, California-based fundraising has generated over $7.3 million for Elk Foundation habitat work, with more than $770,000 returned to conservation and education projects within the state, including 37 completed projects. RMEF-funded efforts in California include elk habitat research in the Glass Mountains of West California and youth conservation education programs across the state.
Website
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program
The California Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program provides free technical and financial assistance to landowners, managers, tribes, corporations, schools, and nonprofits interested in restoring wetland, riparian, and upland wildlife habitat. A phone call or email to the state coordinator is all it takes to schedule an initial site visit.
Contact Information
Cyndee Watson, State Coordinator | (512) 490-0057 | Cyndee_Watson@fws.gov