Background
The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) is a
US Department of Agriculture program that pays farmers to rent their land along streams for restoration and conservation purposes. In this program, riparian buffers are established, maintained, and removed from agricultural production for 10-15 years. Each state provides their own match funding to this program and in Oregon, OWEB provides a 25% match.
Oregon’s CREP program is unique from other states due to its cumulative impact incentive payment. This is an additional payment that a landowner (or group of landowners) can receive if the riparian establishment is more than 2.5 miles of a 5-mile stream segment. The Oregon program also funds conventional projects at the standard compensation rate.
Please refer to the Documents section of this page for resources related to the items below.
Study Design
OWEB completed a statewide evaluation of the CREP program in Oregon in 2017 following a study design that consisted of two tiers:
- Assess existing CREP projects using readily available information.
- Perform an assessment of existing projects by collecting data in the field.
Stillwater Sciences (Stillwater) was contracted by OWEB in 2015 to develop and implement an effectiveness monitoring study of CREP contracts implemented in Oregon, focusing on two of the most common conservation practices (CP) used in the program: Riparian Buffer (CP 22) and Marginal Pastureland Wildlife Buffer (CP 29). The overall intent of this extensive, post-treatment, statewide study was to assess the effectiveness of the CREP program restoration actions on improving riparian conditions, not to evaluate individual counties or sites. Stillwater adapted regional sampling protocols to select sample site locations and collect relevant field data, and subcontracted with Sitka Technology Group to tailor an existing data-gathering and management program for this project, and with Cascade Environmental Group to provide input on survey approaches and to assist with field data collection.
In 2014, OWEB provided monitoring funds to Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) to assess the quality of high density riparian plantings in the Willamette valley implemented by practitioners over the course of more than a decade. The restoration projects are located in lowland sites within the Tualatin, North and South Santiam, Calapooia, Luckiamute, Middle Fork, Long Tom, and Marys River watersheds. Clean Water Services implemented projects in the Tualatin watershed from 2000 to 2014. Local watershed councils in the watersheds of the mid- and upper-Willamette implemented their projects from 2010 to 2014. This completion report documents the activities and general outcomes of the Willamette Riparian Revegetation Effectiveness Study implemented in the summer and fall of 2014.
Grants
OWEB provides competitive, statewide CREP Technical Assistance (TA) grants to support costs associated with local CREP program implementation including staffing, travel, training, outreach, and planning. OWEB issues a solicitation for CREP TA Grant applications every 2 years.
In 2019, OWEB worked with 5 CREP technicians in Oregon to pilot a monitoring approach to track contract performance and inform management of CREP buffers. This monitoring approach, developed in coordination with OWEB-funded CREP technicians, includes completion of a CREP monitoring checklist and repeating the Stream Visual Assessment Protocol (SVAP) on a subset of active contracts. OWEB elected to pilot the approach before implementing it statewide. The technicians will report their findings in early 2020, and OWEB will incorporate lessons learned from this pilot monitoring effort into a refined monitoring approach in 2020 and 2021.
2022-2023 Monitoring Summary
From 2022 - 2023, nine OWEB-funded CREP Technical Assistance grantees monitored 84 Riparian Forest Buffer contracts using the Stream Visual Assessment Protocol (SVAP) 2. These 84 contracts total 1,492 acres across 12 counties (Coos, Curry, Clackamas, Marion, Yamhill, Gilliam, Grant, Jefferson, Morrow, Polk, Wasco, and Wheeler) in Oregon. When comparing SVAP scores from pre-CREP enrollment to the repeat SVAP scores we saw the average of the overall SVAP score increase 1.36 across all 84 CP 22 contracts assessed. Of the 84 contracts assessed only 2 contracts overall SVAP scores decreased over the monitoring period.
From 2022 - 2023, three OWEB-funded CREP Technical Assistance grantees monitored 12 Marginal Pastureland Wildlife Buffer contracts using the SVAP 2 protocol. These 12 contracts total 525 acres across 3 counties (Grant, Morrow, and Wasco) in Oregon. When comparing SVAP scores from pre-CREP enrollment to the repeat SVAP scores we saw the average of the overall SVAP score increase 0.9 across all 12 CP 29 contracts assessed. Of the 12 contracts assessed all SVAP overall scores increased over the monitoring period.
These monitoring results indicate that the conservation practices implemented in the CREP program are having a positive impact on riparian conditions across the state of Oregon. This monitoring approach is continuing with the CREP TA grantees in the 2024-25 grant period.
Contact
Please direct questions or comments to
Ken Fetcho, Effectiveness Monitoring Coordinator, 971-345-7018.