Condition of Natural Resources Conservation Service Wetland Easements in Illinois Final Progress Report Period: 31 August 2016 – 30 September 2017

During the 2017 fiscal year(1 October2016–30 September 2017), the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) conducted wetland monitoring and wetland quality evaluations for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) on Agriculture Conservation Easement Program -Wetland Reserve Easements (ACEP-WRE; n= 30). We visited each wetland easement twice; once in autumn/winter (November–January) and again during spring (February–March) totaling 60 easement visits. Easements were located in Lawrence (n=29) and Wayne counties(n=1). Monitored easements comprised eight Emergency Watershed Protection Program-Floodplain Easements (EWPP-FPE) and 22 Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) Easements. The WRP and EWPP-FPE easements were enrolled in NRCS programs prior to 2014 Farm Bill restructuring of wetland easements that now fall into the ACEP-WRE program.We previously submitted easement monitoring worksheets, detailed photographs of easement conditions, and descriptive management plans(Appendix 1) that detailed conditionsof the easements and gave recommendations for improvements to vegetation communities and easement infrastructure for all 30 easements.