Forestry Incentives Program (FIP): A Repealed Federal Program
The Forestry Incentives Program (FIP) was a federal cost-share program for non-industrial private forest landowners, authorized under the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978. FIP was repealed by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-171). It has not accepted applications or issued cost-share payments since that time.
This page is kept for reference because FIP is still cited in older forestry articles and landowner guides. If you found it while looking for help paying for forestry work in Minnesota or Wisconsin, the programs below are the current place to start.
What replaced FIP?
There is no single successor program. Federal conservation cost-share for private forest land is now delivered mainly through USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) programs, alongside state forestry assistance.
Federal programs administered by USDA NRCS
- Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) — financial and technical assistance for conservation practices on working land, including forest stand improvement and brush management. Applications go through your local NRCS field office.
- Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) — assistance for landowners who want to expand conservation activity already underway on their land.
- Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) — locally led projects delivered with partner organizations. Availability depends on whether an active RCPP project covers your area.
Payment rates, eligible practices, ranking criteria and sign-up periods for these programs are set by NRCS and change from year to year. NRCS is the only authoritative source for what a specific practice pays in a specific county. Please do not rely on figures quoted on contractor websites, including this one.
State forestry assistance
- Wisconsin — the Wisconsin DNR Forest Landowner Grant Program (WFLGP) offers cost-share for eligible forestry and habitat practices. Eligibility conditions apply, including acreage limits and an approved plan. Contact your DNR forester.
- Minnesota — the Minnesota DNR provides forest stewardship planning assistance and can direct landowners to current cost-share opportunities. Contact your DNR Area Forestry office.
Where Aspen Land Management fits
Aspen Land Management LLC is a private land-clearing and forestry-mulching contractor. We are not a government agency, and we are not an approved, certified or listed contractor for EQIP, CSP, RCPP or any other conservation program. We do not submit applications on your behalf, and we cannot approve, promise or influence funding.
What we can do is carry out the mechanical work — forestry mulching, brush and invasive removal, site preparation and access improvement — to the written specification your forester or NRCS conservation planner gives you, and document the finished work with photographs and mapping so you have a clear record for your own file.
Please note: nothing on this page is a guarantee of funding, eligibility or payment. Program rules, rates and availability change. Verify everything with USDA NRCS, the Wisconsin DNR or the Minnesota DNR before you plan work or spend money.
Next step
Contact your local NRCS field office or state DNR forester first, and get your practice approved in writing before any work begins. Once you have an approved plan, we are glad to quote the mechanical portion of the work.