Condition of Natural Resources Conservation Service Wetland Easements in Illinois: Annual Progress Report 31 August 2020 – 30 September 2021

During the 2020 fiscal year (1 October 2020 – 30 September 2021), 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 = 107). We visited each wetland easement twice; once in autumn/winter (November–January) and again during spring (February–May) totaling 214 easement visits. Easements were located in Clark (n = 51), Crawford (n = 32), Franklin (n = 4), Jasper (n = 16), Saline (n = 3), and Williamson (n = 1) Counties. Easements comprised 58 WRP easements, 37 Emergency Watershed Protection Program-Floodplain Easements (EWPP-FPE), and 12 ACEP-WRE 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 and detailed photographs of easement conditions, and this report contains a summary, descriptive management plans for newly visited easements (Appendix 1) that detail conditions of the easements, and gives recommendations for improvements to vegetation communities and easement infrastructure for 76 newly visited easements.