Program Purpose: To provide emergency wildlife damage abatement materials to eligible producers or growers and to reduce damage and increase tolerance of wildlife on private lands.
Eligible Projects: All producers or growers must enter in to a cooperative damage management agreement. Short term projects are usually in response to an emergency and include issuing shooting permits, repellent applications, temporary fences or the creation of lure/food plots. Long term projects may include hunt management, fence construction or other abatement materials.
Who May Apply: Producers or growers of stored forage crops, owners of crops damaged by flightless geese, and specialty crop growers, which includes the following crops: fruit, orchards, vegetables, tree farms, nurseries, turf farms, and apiaries.
Priorities: All crop damage projects are considered equally and are handled in the order they are received.
Level of Assistance: Up to $1500 for damage to stored forage other than silage or grain and $3000 for stored silage or grain. Up to $1000 for damage caused by flightless geese. Up to $5,000 in damage abatement materials per eligible specialty crop grower (landowner, tenant, or parcel). Producer or Growers are responsible for costs above this amount.
General Information: This program was initiated by the State Legislature in 1993 to provide landowners relief from wildlife damage. It combines both short and long-term abatement measures that in combination provide the greatest damage reduction at the lowest possible cost. It is funded through the Game and Fish Fund.
How to Apply: Contact your area wildlife manager.