There are three enrollment requirements to participate in this program:

1. Landowners must sign a Green Attributes Agreement (GAA) with Restore the Earth Foundation (REF). This agreement allows REF to fund and perform the activities required to track, quantify, verify, document, and report environmental and community outcomes generated over the life of the project. The GAA assigns environmental attributes associated with the restoration to REF for program administration purposes.

2. Landowners must verify the land has not been forested in the past 10 years.

3. Landowners must submit an RCPP easement application. When filing an application for an RCPP easement, landowners are volunteering to limit future use of the offered land, but they will retain private ownership and will continue to control access to and retain rights for some uses of the land.

• Focused on reforestation of marginal cropland in floodplain areas across Arkansas.

• REF is partnered with NRCS who are uniquely positioned to establish, hold and manage permanent conservation easements.

• REF leverages private with public funding to maximize the number of acres restored and protected.

• Landowners become part of a long-term sustainable conservation funding system with benefits today and in the future.

• Landowners in Arkansas counties with marginal cropland in floodplain areas are eligible to apply.

• Landowners do not have to meet adjusted gross income requirements.

• No 2-year ownership requirement.

• A one-time, upfront easement payment from NRCS, based on the Arkansas Geographic Area Rate Cap which is currently around $3,000 per acre.

• A one-time, upfront per acre stewardship incentive from REF.

• Land rights for recreation and generating additional revenues, e.g. hunting leases.

• Ability to meet or avoid natural resource regulation, e.g. water quality, groundwater.

• Land is reforested at no cost to the landowner (estimated $3,250 per acre managed and paid for by REF).

• Documentation of project outcomes through recognized third-party standards at no cost to landowners.

• Ongoing monitoring, tracking, quantifying, verifying, documenting and reporting of long-term restoration outcomes for the life of the project (40 years) at no cost to landowners.

• Easements held, managed and monitored by NRCS in perpetuity.

• Opportunity to benefit from future conservation recognition programs related to water quality/quantity, soil health, or habitat improvements, if available.

• The plan you develop with NRCS identifies the activities necessary to restore, enhance, protect, maintain, and manage the easement. You continue to control access to the land – and may lease the land – for hunting, fishing, and other undeveloped recreational activities.

• At any time, you may request that additional activities be evaluated to determine if they are compatible uses for the site.

• Once your eligibility has been determined, NRCS will discuss with you the eligible area and surrounding areas necessary to enroll to restore and sustain the ecosystem.

• The objectives are to restore native ecosystems, improve wildlife habitat, water quality and groundwater recharge, reduce flooding, and mitigate disaster damages.

• You can start the application process but cannot continue with an existing contract on land that will be included in the easement.

• Be aware of cost recovery and liquidated damages that may be assessed on your current Farm Bill contract that are outlined in the appendix to your contract.

• At Restore the Earth Foundation, we assume 100% of the costs for managing, documenting and reporting measured environmental and community outcomes over the life of the project which is generally 40 years.

• A successful reforestation project will restore land back to its healthy ecological state, and generate environmental benefits, such as improved air and water quality, enhanced soil quality, restored native vegetation, and increased wildlife and biodiversity. These benefits are also known as green attributes.

• In addition to generating green attributes, REF’s reforestation projects also provide social and economic co-benefits such as job creation, community resilience, and recreation.

• At the beginning of a project, REF records the baseline conditions. Following restoration, REF measures and quantifies the different green attributes and co-benefits generated from the restoration. By doing so, they determine environmental and community outcomes generated over the life of the project.