Kentucky
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 Prairie Pothole Region, Great Lakes Region, Upper Mississippi River, and Mississippi Alluvial Valley are important to Kentucky waterfowl hunters. Kentucky’s river systems and bottomland wetlands attract significant migrations of mallards, teal, and diving ducks from breeding grounds to the north. Ducks Unlimited has conserved 14,561 acres in Kentucky with 5,014 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 Kentucky.
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/kentucky-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/kentucky-state-office
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
Habitat Assistance Program
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) offers free assistance to landowners interested in integrating wildlife habitat into their property management. Interested landowners can complete an information form to be contacted by a KDFWR Private Lands Biologist for a free consultation and habitat recommendations.
Stream and Wetland Restoration Program
Properties with existing wetlands or indicators of potential wetlands may be eligible for preservation, enhancement, rehabilitation, or establishment of wetland habitat. Willing sellers may have their property purchased by KDFWR for permanent protection if it meets program criteria, or projects on private land may be protected by a permanent easement.
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program
This federal program works with private landowners to conduct cost-effective habitat restoration, enhancement, and management projects on private land in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Landowner Incentive Program
This program provides cost-share funding to Kentucky landowners to improve wildlife habitat and conserve species of greatest conservation need on private lands.
Website
Pheasants Forever
Pheasants Forever Habitat Programs
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever chapters in Kentucky 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, Kentucky-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 Kentucky include elk habitat research in the Glass Mountains of West Kentucky and youth conservation education programs across the state.
Website
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program
The Kentucky 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