What constitutes an eligible body of water for filter strip and riparian buffer establishment under the CRP/CREP?
A1: Policy on what constitutes an eligible body of water in relation to CP-21, Filter Strip, & CP-22, Riparian Buffer, practice eligibility is provided in Exhibit 9 of the 2-CRP Handbook and in the 1-MI-CRP Handbook. At the roll out training sessions for CREP it was indicated that if a road ditch met the seasonal stream definition, then the cropland immediately adjacent and parallel would be eligible for enrollment. Questions from the field on this concept indicate a need for clarification. A true road ditch would not meet eligibility requirements, but many road ditches are actually drainage ditches in that they drain directly or indirectly into a water body and contain water for part of the year, more than just during and/or after rainfall or snowmelt, thus meeting the seasonal stream definition. The seasonally flooded wetland definition, which is surface water is present for extended periods of not less than 21 calendar days during the growing season, may be useful in determining if
