Minnesota's Landowner Incentive Program

LIP is a grant program administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and implemented through state natural resource agencies. Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources, Division of Ecological Resources, implements LIP in MN.

LIP provides technical and financial assistance to eligible, private landowners within LIP project areas, who are interested in enhancing habitat on their land for target species. Target species are:

Plants and animals identified under state or federal endangered species laws as endangered, threatened or of special concern (listed species) and non-listed animal species with declining or vulnerable populations (Species In Greatest Conservation Need) http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ets/index.html and http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/cwcs/set.html

LIP is a voluntary, incentive-based program. LIP is not a land acquisition program and fee-title acquisition is not an eligible use of LIP funds

Types of assistance available to eligible landowners

Technical assistance with the development of habitat management/stewardship plans.
Assistance with the implementation of habitat enhancement projects.
Financial assistance grants (landowner reimbursement payments) for implementing LIP approved habitat projects.

LIP’s eligibility requirements

The following requirements apply to all LIP project areas. Please see the project area maps (below) for information specific to your LIP area.

You must be a private landowner. Organizations working with private landowners can apply on behalf of the landowner(s).
Your proposed project will enhance habitat for target species. While LIP projects provide many benefits to the landowner (hunting, wildlife viewing, erosion control, improved water quality, etc) the primary outcomes monitored over time are the cumulative contributions that LIP projects make to rare species recovery.
The land upon which you wish to implement your LIP project contains a native plant community (http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/npc/index.html) or remnant and is within a LIP project area (maps below).

While some exceptions exist based on the needs of the target species, priority projects for LIP assistance tend to be larger sites (including multiple landowner projects). Smaller sites (with or without native vegetation) could be LIP eligible if they buffer or connect protected conservation lands or waters that provide habitat for target-species.

A stewardship or management plan exists for the site where the proposed habitat project is located. LIP staff can assist eligible landowners with plan development.
Your project site is enrolled in a conservation easement program or you are willing to sign a landowner agreement and agree to maintain the LIP-funded habitat project for an agreed upon length of time.

LIP is a competitive program and applications for habitat projects are evaluated and selected based on program criteria and available funding. The following criteria are used to evaluated and prioritized landowner applications:

The number and population size of target species on or adjacent to the project site that could benefit from the proposed project
The number and population size of target species in the vicinity of the project site
The site's habitat function, such as breeding area, dispersal corridor, etc
The potential consequences to target species of not implementing the project
The project's location in relation to high quality natural areas, public lands (parks, scientific and natural areas, wildlife management areas, aquatic management areas, nature preserves), or other LIP project sites
The overall cost of the project, the landowner's contribution, and the project life span
The ability of staff or landowner’s to implement the project

LIP Project Areas: Funding availability and application deadlines vary by project area. Please contact the LIP staff in your area for more information.


Prairie	Timber Rattlesnake, Bluff Prairie	Franconia-Scandia, St. Croix Corridor