Connecticut
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 North Atlantic Coast, Great Lakes Region, and Prairie Pothole Region are important to Connecticut waterfowl hunters. A significant portion of the mallards harvested in Connecticut each year are produced on local habitat and in areas around the Great Lakes. Teal originate largely from the Prairie Pothole Region, while diving ducks come from the Atlantic Coast and prairies. Ducks Unlimited has conserved 1,612 acres in Connecticut with 2,524 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 Connecticut.
Website
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers and forest landowners to address natural resource concerns and deliver environmental benefits such as improved water and air quality, conserved ground and surface water, increased soil health, and reduced soil erosion and sedimentation, as well as improved or created wildlife habitat.
Payment Rates
Payment rates vary by practice and may include enhanced incentive payments through EQIP-CIC.
Contact Information
Contact your local county office for more information.
Website
nrcs.usda.gov/contact/state-office-contacts/connecticut-state-office
Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)
The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) helps agricultural producers and forest landowners maintain and improve their existing conservation systems and adopt additional conservation activities to address priority resource concerns.
Payment Rates
Payment rates vary by activity, 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/connecticut-state-office
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Landowner Incentive Program (LIP)
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Wildlife Division offers the Landowner Incentive Program (LIP), which provides technical advice and cost assistance to private landowners for habitat management that protects, restores, reclaims, enhances, and maintains habitats supporting at-risk fish, wildlife, and plants.
Cost Share Details
LIP can provide up to 75% of the cost of a project, with a minimum 25% non-federal match required. Landowners or partnering organizations can provide the match through services such as brush mowing, invasive plant control, and other habitat work.
Habitat Management for Wildlife
DEEP works with private landowners interested in implementing habitat management projects to create or sustain young forest or shrubland habitat for wildlife, including forest and wildlife habitat planning, brush mowing, non-native invasive plant control, prescribed burning, tree and shrub plantings, and creation of brush piles.
Application
Landowners should contact the DEEP Wildlife Division or their local NRCS office to apply for cost-sharing of management practices, which NRCS accepts year-round.
Website
portal.ct.gov/deep/wildlife/habitat/wildlife-habitat-management-on-private-land
Pheasants Forever
Pheasants Forever Habitat Programs
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever chapters in Connecticut 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, Connecticut-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 Connecticut include elk habitat research in the Glass Mountains of West Connecticut and youth conservation education programs across the state.
Website
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program
The Connecticut 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