Title 7

SECTION 701.105

701.105 Land eligibility.

§ 701.105 Land eligibility.

(a) For land to be eligible, the Deputy Administrator must determine that land that is the subject of the cost share:

(1) Will have new conservation problems caused as a result of a natural disaster that, if not treated, would:

(i) Impair or endanger the land;

(ii) Materially affect the productive capacity of the land;

(iii) Represent unusual damage that, except for wind erosion, is not of the type likely to recur frequently in the same area; and

(iv) Be so costly to repair that Federal assistance is or will be required to return the land to productive agricultural use. Conservation problems existing prior to the disaster are not eligible for cost-share assistance.

(2) Be physically located in a county in which the ECP has been implemented; and

(3) Be one of the following:

(i) Land expected to have annual agricultural production,

(ii) A field windbreak or a farmstead shelterbelt on which the ECP practice to be implemented involves removing debris that interferes with normal farming operations on the farm and correcting damage caused by the disaster; or

(iii) A farm access road on which debris interfering with the normal farming operation needs to be removed.

(b) Land is ineligible for cost share if the Deputy Administrator determines that it is, as applicable:

(1) Owned or controlled by the United States;

(2) Owned or controlled by States, including State agencies or other political subdivisions of a State;

(3) Protected by a levee or dike that was not effectively and properly functioning prior to the disaster, or is protected, or intended to be protected, by a levee or dike not built to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NRCS, or comparable standards;

(4) Adjacent to water impoundment reservoirs that are subject to inundation when the reservoir is filled to capacity;

(5) Land on which levees or dikes are located;

(6) Subject to frequent damage or susceptible to severe damage according to paragraph (c) of this section;

(7) Subject to flowage or flood easements and inundation when water is released in normal operations;

(8) Between any levee or dike and a stream, river, or body of water, including land between two or more levees or dikes;

(9) Located in an old or new channel of a stream, creek, river or other similar body of water, except that land located within or on the banks of an irrigation canal may be eligible if the Deputy Administrator determines that the canal is not a channel subject to flooding;

(10) In greenhouses or other confined areas, including but not limited to, land in corrals, milking parlors, barn lots, or feeding areas;

(11) Land on which poor farming practices, such as failure to farm on the contour, have materially contributed to damaging the land;

(12) Unless otherwise provided for, not considered to be in annual agricultural production, such as land devoted to stream banks, channels, levees, dikes, native woodland areas, roads, and recreational uses; or

(13) Devoted to trees including, but not limited to, timber production.

(c) To determine the likely frequency of damage and of the susceptibility of the land to severe damage under paragraph (b)(6) of this section, FSA will consider all relevant factors, including, but not limited to, the location of the land, the history of damage to the land, and whether the land was or could have been protected by a functioning levee or dike built to U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, NRCS, or comparable standards. Further, in making such determinations, information may be obtained and used from the Federal Emergency Management Agency or any other Federal, State (including State agencies or political subdivisions), or other entity or individual providing information regarding, for example, flood susceptibility for the land, soil surveys, aerial photographs, or flood plain data or other relevant information.

[69 FR 10302, Mar. 4, 2004. Redesignated at 75 FR 70088, Nov. 17, 2010]

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