What Are Compatible Use Authorizations on Conservation Easements?

A compatible use authorization on a conservation easement is written permission from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that lets a landowner conduct a specific activity on land enrolled under a wetland reserve easement in the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). Because the easement deed conveys nearly all rights in the land to the United States, almost anything you want to do beyond what the deed explicitly reserved to you requires a CUA first. These authorizations last no more than ten years, do not transfer with the property, and can be revoked at any time.

What a CUA Is and Why You Need One

When you enroll property under a wetland reserve easement, the deed conveys to the United States all rights, title, and interests in the property except those specifically reserved to you.¹ Among the rights the government acquires is the authority to permit compatible uses on the easement area, such as hunting, fishing, managed timber harvest, water management, and periodic haying or grazing.² The CUA is how NRCS exercises that authority, one activity at a time.

A CUA is not an amendment to the deed. It does not restore any rights to you or change the easement’s permanent terms. NRCS treats it as a revocable, time-limited license for a defined activity under defined conditions.³ If the authorization expires or gets rescinded, the activity has to stop regardless of what you have invested in it.

The approval standard has two parts. NRCS evaluates whether the proposed use will facilitate practical administration and management of the land, and whether the use furthers the wetland functions and values for which the easement was enrolled.³ Both have to be satisfied. An activity that helps you manage the land but degrades its conservation values will not pass.

If You Hold an Agricultural Land Easement Instead

The CUA framework described here applies to wetland reserve easements, where NRCS holds the easement directly. Agricultural land easements under ACEP work differently: a land trust, state agency, or other eligible entity holds the easement, and NRCS retains only a right of enforcement. The holding entity manages permitted uses through the deed and its own oversight, not through an NRCS CUA. If your easement is an ALE, contact the entity that holds it before planning any new activity.

Activities NRCS Typically Authorizes

Federal regulations describe several categories of use NRCS may authorize, but every request gets evaluated individually against site conditions. Nothing is pre-approved.⁴

Periodic haying and managed grazing. NRCS often uses grazing as a habitat management tool to control invasive vegetation or promote native plant growth. These activities are restricted during primary nesting seasons, which vary by state and generally run from early spring through mid-summer.
Managed timber harvest. Selective tree removal may be authorized when it supports forest health or wetland restoration rather than commercial production. NRCS weighs the harvest plan against potential impacts on water quality, soil stability, and wildlife habitat.
Hunting and fishing. Recreational use is commonly authorized where it does not interfere with habitat protections. Structures like hunting blinds may need their own CUA, and you remain responsible for removing them and repairing any damage.
Water management. Activities that maintain or adjust water levels to support wetland functions can be authorized, especially when they track the wetland restoration plan.
Maintenance of existing infrastructure. Repairing fences, water control structures, or access roads generally requires a CUA. After restoration is complete, NRCS typically expects landowners to obtain CUAs for ongoing responsibilities like controlling noxious weeds and maintaining structures.⁵

The common thread is that the activity has to further the wetland functions and values for which the easement was established. If a proposed activity could cause soil erosion, water contamination, or habitat degradation, NRCS will deny it. The regulations give the agency wide latitude to impose conditions on amount, method, location, timing, frequency, intensity, and duration.¹

Commercial and industrial activities on a wetland reserve easement are generally prohibited unless NRCS finds them consistent with protecting the wetland. Small-scale installations supporting on-site management have a better chance than commercial energy generation or similar ventures.

How to Apply

Every CUA requires site-specific evaluation and written authorization from NRCS before you begin the activity.⁴ Starting work without an approved CUA in hand is an easement violation, not a paperwork lapse. Applications are submitted to your local USDA Service Center and typically use NRCS form CPA-1157C.

Your application needs a detailed narrative: what the activity is, why you want to do it, how you plan to do it, and how it supports or at least does not harm the easement’s conservation objectives. Include maps or aerial photographs showing the exact location of the proposed activity and its proximity to sensitive areas like wetlands, nesting zones, or restored habitat. Describe the timing and duration, the equipment you will use, and whether the work could disturb soil or affect water flow. Heavy machinery usually triggers additional soil and water protection conditions.

Documentation up front prevents delays. Applications that leave NRCS guessing about scope or impact draw follow-up questions or outright denial. If the activity is complex enough to require a biological or environmental assessment, that consulting cost is on you.

After submission, agency staff review the narrative and maps against the specific terms of your deed and the property’s wetland restoration plan. For many requests NRCS will visit the site to confirm current conditions and gauge risk to protected resources. Final approval comes from the State Conservationist or the Assistant State Conservationist for Programs; only a CUA signed by one of them and by you is valid.⁴

An approved CUA will spell out conditions on how, when, where, and how long the activity may occur. Those conditions are binding to the letter. Authorization to graze during September and October does not permit grazing in August even if conditions look identical.

NRCS does not publish a guaranteed processing timeline. Routine requests like managed haying tend to move faster than requests involving heavy equipment, new structures, or work near sensitive habitat. Build plenty of lead time before any seasonal deadline you cannot push.

Duration, Transfer, and Rescission

No CUA lasts indefinitely. NRCS will not treat any use as permanently compatible with a wetland reserve easement, because wetland and biological systems change over time. The maximum duration for any CUA is ten years, and the agency makes no guarantee of a specific level or frequency of use even within that period.⁴

NRCS can modify or rescind a CUA at any time if it determines the authorized activities no longer further the easement’s protection and enhancement objectives, or if you fail to comply with the terms.³ Rescission can happen mid-authorization when site conditions shift, when monitoring reveals unexpected impacts, or when you deviate from the approved plan.

A CUA does not transfer with the property. It is personal to the landowner who signed it. If you sell, the buyer has to apply for a new CUA before continuing any activity that was authorized under yours.⁴ This gets overlooked during closings, and the enforcement risk lands on the new owner, who may be continuing an activity they thought was already covered.

What Happens If You Skip the CUA

Doing a restricted activity without a valid CUA, or exceeding the terms of one you already have, triggers the enforcement provisions of 7 CFR 1468.39.

NRCS will give you written notice and 30 days to correct the problem at your own expense, with the possibility of additional time if the nature of the violation requires it.⁶ The agency also reserves the right to enter the easement area and fix the problem itself if immediate action is needed to protect wetland functions. When NRCS does the work, you are liable for the full cost.

The easement itself stays in force; a violation does not undo it. What changes is your financial position: NRCS may withhold any program payments otherwise owed to you and demand refunds of payments already made, with interest.⁶ For landowners who received substantial restoration payments, that clawback alone can run into tens of thousands of dollars.

For 30-year contracts or restoration agreements rather than permanent easements, the stakes include outright termination. If you do not correct a violation within the notice period, NRCS may terminate the contract. Termination is immediate if NRCS determines you submitted false information or filed a false claim. A terminated contract means forfeiting all future payments and refunding past payments received, with interest.

Appealing a Denial

A CUA denial is an adverse program decision, and you can challenge it. The deadline across every available option is 30 calendar days from the date you received the denial notice.⁷ Mark that date the moment the letter arrives. Missing the window forfeits your appeal rights.

You have five paths:

Informal review by the State Conservationist, which includes an informal hearing and a written final decision within 30 days after the hearing.⁷
Mediation, a confidential process with a neutral third party. The parties have 30 days from the first session to reach a settlement, extendable by agreement. Requesting mediation pauses your 30-day appeal clock; if it fails, the clock resumes with whatever time remained.⁸
An FSA County Committee appeal, filed in writing with the Farm Service Agency County Committee for an informal hearing.
A National Appeals Division (NAD) hearing or document review. Once a NAD hearing begins, you waive your right to the other informal options.⁹
Equitable relief, available if you acted in good faith based on incorrect NRCS guidance, or made a good-faith effort to comply and substantially performed. This is a narrower remedy for unusual circumstances.

At a NAD hearing the burden is on you. You have to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the agency’s decision was wrong.⁹ That means concrete material: your application packet, correspondence with NRCS, expert assessments showing the activity supports conservation values, comparable CUAs approved on similar properties, or documentation that the agency misapplied a regulation to your facts. A general disagreement with the result will not carry the hearing.

If You Donated the Easement for a Tax Deduction

If you claimed a charitable deduction for donating the easement, think carefully about how a CUA activity interacts with the tax rules behind that deduction. Under federal tax law, a qualified conservation contribution must be made exclusively for conservation purposes, and those purposes must be protected in perpetuity.¹⁰

A properly issued CUA reflects NRCS’s determination that the activity is consistent with the easement’s conservation objectives, which generally insulates you from an IRS challenge on consistency grounds. The risk rises when permitted activities generate significant commercial income in ways that suggest the conservation purpose was not genuinely protected. If the IRS concludes that the financial benefit from permitted activities exceeds the value of the conservation restriction, it can disallow the deduction entirely.

Mineral extraction deserves special caution. The tax code provides that a conservation contribution fails the “exclusively for conservation purposes” test if surface mining may occur on the property at any time, with a narrow exception when the surface and mineral estates have been separately owned and the probability of surface mining is so remote as to be negligible.¹⁰ If you have retained or pre-existing mineral interests, talk to a tax professional before pursuing any extraction-related CUA. The tax consequences of getting this wrong can dwarf the value of the mineral rights themselves.

1
eCFR. 7 CFR Part 1468 – Agricultural Conservation Easement Program
2
eCFR. 7 CFR 1468.37 – Wetland Reserve Easement Participation Requirements
3
eCFR. 7 CFR 1468.38 – Wetland Reserve Easement Management
4
Natural Resources Conservation Service. Compatible Use Authorizations Fact Sheet
5
Natural Resources Conservation Service. Landowner Guide to ACEP-WRE
6
eCFR. 7 CFR 1468.39 – Violations and Remedies
7
eCFR. 7 CFR Part 614 – NRCS Appeal Procedures
8
Natural Resources Conservation Service. Appeal Options for Adverse Easement Program Decisions
9
eCFR. 7 CFR Part 11 – National Appeals Division
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 170 – Charitable Contributions and Gifts