Department highlights habitat‑stamp accomplishments, CREP payments and 2026–2028 strategic priorities

The commission received an overview of 2025 habitat‑stamp accomplishments and the department’s 2026–2028 strategic approach for spending habitat‑stamp revenue.

Ryan Wigger (Habitat Program Administrator) and Jake Davis (Fisheries Program Administrator) described terrestrial accomplishments in 2025 funded in part by the habitat stamp: grass and forb plantings (about 1,800 acres across GPA sites with ~170 acres paid via habitat‑stamp funds), shelterbelt plantings, hardwood release work and improvements to roads, parking and walk‑in access. Wigger said habitat‑stamp funds helped cover CREP (conservation reserve enhancement program) payments covering roughly 24,000 acres in 2025; habitat stamp dollars paid about $1.3 million of those payments and were leveraged with PU/PR grant funds.

On the aquatic side, Davis outlined dam and boat‑ramp maintenance, fish‑passage and instream restoration projects, pier and dock projects and access leases that open water acres to the public. The department said it has addressed 30 of 77 state dams in recent years and completed eight fish‑passage projects and a range of habitat‑improvement work in 2025.

Wigger and Davis also presented the department’s 2026–2028 strategic approach for habitat‑stamp dollars, noting priorities: increase terrestrial and aquatic habitat, improve user access, reach CREP and walk‑in area enrollment goals, invest in aquatic infrastructure and continue dam maintenance. The habitat stamp, created by 2020 Senate Bill 75, generates roughly $5 million annually, the presenters said.

Commissioners asked about public outreach; communications manager Nick Harrington said the department highlights projects through a habitat‑stamp dashboard, social media, a quarterly Conservation Digest and annual reports. Staff will continue to target James River and Big Sioux watershed CREP enrollment goals and secure additional walk‑in acres.