The following definitions shall be applicable for the purposes of this part:

(a) Agricultural commodity—means any crop planted and produced by annual tilling of the soil, or on an annual basis by one trip planters, or alfalfa and other multiyear grasses and legumes in rotation as approved by the Secretary. For purposes of determining crop history, as relevant to eligibility to enroll land in the program, land shall be “considered planted to an agricultural commodity” during a crop year if, as determined by ASCS, as action of the Secretary prevented land from being planted to the commodity during the crop year.

(b) Applicant—means a person who submits to NRCS an application to participate in the EWRP.

(c) Commodity Credit Corporation—a wholly owned government corporation within the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

(d) Conservation District (CD)—means a subdivision of a State or local government organized pursuant to applicable State law to promote soil and water conservation practices.

(e) Conservation Reserve Program—means the program under which long-term payments and cost-share assistance is provided to individuals to establish permanent vegetative cover on cropland that is highly erodible or environmentally sensitive.

(f) Prior converted wetland—means wetland that has been drained, dredged, filled, leveled, or otherwise manipulated (including any activity that results in impairing or reducing the flow, circulation, or reach of water) prior to December 23, 1985, for the purpose, or that has the effect, of making the production of agricultural commodities possible if such production would not have been possible but for such action.

(g) Cost-share payment—means the payment made by NRCS to assist program participants in establishing the practices required in a WRPO.

(h) Chief—means the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, or the Chief's designee.

(i) Easement—means the real property interest acquired by NRCS under this part for wetland restoration and maintenance and which is properly filed with the appropriate local or State government official.

(j) Easement area—means the land to which the approved wetland restoration practices and wetland conservation restrictions are to be applied.

(k) Fair market value (FMV)—means the price that a willing seller would accept and a willing buyer would pay in an open, informed transaction.

(l) Farmed wetland—means wetland that was drained, dredged, filled, or otherwise manipulated prior to December 23, 1985 to the extent that the production of agricultural commodities was made possible, but which continues to meet wetland criteria [refer to 7 CFR 12.32(a)(3) for descriptions of farmed wetlands].

(m) Floodwater control systems—means dikes, levees, or other similar structural measures for the protection of cropland from flooding.

(n) FWS—means the Fish and Wildlife Service of the United States Department of the Interior.

(o) Local NRCS office—means the office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service serving the county or combination of counties in which the landowner's farm or ranch is located.

(p) Participant—means a person(s) owning land subject to a perfected easement purchased by the Natural Resources Conservation Service under this part.

(q) Offer—means the total payment NRCS will make to a landowner to purchase an easement.

(r) Permanent easement—means an easement in perpetuity.

(s) Substantially altered lands—means lands which have not been and are not now wetlands but could likely develop wetland characteristics in the future, as a result of the Midwest floods of 1993.

(t) Practice—means the wetland and easement area development restoration measures agreed to in the WRPO to accomplish the desired program objectives.

(u) Technical assistance—means the assistance provided to land owners to facilitate implementation of the WRPO.

(v) Wetland—means land that (1) has a predominance of hydric soils; (2) is inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of hydrophytic vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions; and (3) does support a prevalence of such vegetation under normal circumstances.