Plant Materials for Wildlife

The Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) was created by the 1996 Farm Bill, the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act (FAIRA). WHIP will provide technical and financial assistance to landowners to apply and maintain wildlife conservation practices. Enhancement, creation, or restoration of habitats for upland and wetland wildlife species, threatened and endangered species, fish and other types of wildlife are the program\u27s primary purposes. The NRCS Plant Materials Centers and Plant Materials Specialists in the Southeast Region have prepared a description of plant materials that should be considered for WHIP. The plant materials technology includes information on native and introduced grasses, legumes, trees, shrubs and vines that are recommended for WHIP. This information is intended to be used by NRCS field offices to supplement the field office technical guide (FOTG) regarding plants that are suitable for the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP). It was extremely difficult to develop this information to fit the needs in each state. Therefore, it is recommended that the user(s) refer to the Field Office Technical Guides in their state for more specific details. In addition, this information is provided on a diskette for the state specialist to customize, simply by adding plant materials that are adapted and recommended for WHIP in their state. Users can also contact the state resource specialist (i.e. biologist, Plant Materials personnel, etc.)