Ohio
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
Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund
Seed a Legacy
The Seed A Legacy Pollinator Habitat Program works with private, public, and corporate landowners across a multi-state Midwest and Great Plains region, including Missouri, to establish high-quality pollinator habitat that benefits honey bees, monarch butterflies, and other pollinators. The program provides high-quality seed mixes free of charge for projects between 2 and 25 acres, along with personalized support from the program’s biologists to help ensure successful establishment and long-term habitat health. More than 7,000 acres of habitat have been established to date.
Eligibility
Applications are accepted year-round; final Fall enrollment decisions are made around September 1 and final Spring enrollment decisions around March 1.
Website
Ducks Unlimited
DU Conservation Programs
The Great Lakes Region is important to Ohio waterfowl hunters. Ohio’s Lake Erie marshes and inland wetlands are among the most productive waterfowl habitats in the Midwest, supporting large concentrations of migrating and wintering ducks and geese. Ducks Unlimited has conserved 96,582 acres in Ohio with 16,814 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 Ohio.
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/ohio-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/ohio-state-office
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
Wildlife Habitat Initiative
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife’s Wildlife Habitat Initiative helps private landowners create and enhance wildlife habitat by offering technical assistance and cost-share incentives. The program is designed to restore and manage important habitat types on privately owned land, including grasslands, wetlands, pollinator meadows, forested areas, and riparian buffers.
Grassland Conservation Funding
ODNR Division of Wildlife has made significant funding available to landowners interested in creating grassland habitat that supports native wildlife such as northern bobwhite quail and other grassland-nesting birds. Eligible lands include cropland and non-cropland, with grants awarded on a per-acre basis or by project, and contract agreements ranging from one to four years.
Technical Assistance
The Division of Wildlife and the National Bobwhite and Grasslands Initiative Foundation work with interested landowners to provide hands-on technical assistance at no cost.
Application
Interested landowners should contact a Wildlife Management Consultant to begin planning conservation efforts with experts who can design practical, wildlife-friendly land management strategies.
Website
Pheasants Forever
Pheasants Forever Habitat Programs
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever chapters in Ohio 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, Ohio-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 Ohio include elk habitat research in the Glass Mountains of West Ohio and youth conservation education programs across the state.
Website
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program
The Ohio 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