Title 7: Agriculture
PART 636—WILDLIFE HABITAT INCENTIVES PROGRAM
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§ 636.12 Termination of cost-share agreements.
(a) The State Conservationist may, independently or by mutual agreement with the parties to the cost-share agreement, terminate the cost-share agreement where:
(1) The parties to the cost-share agreement are unable to comply with the terms of the cost-share agreement as the result of conditions beyond their control;
(2) Termination of the cost-share agreement would, as determined by the State Conservationist, be in the public interest; or
(3) A participant fails to correct a violation of a cost-share agreement within the period provided by NRCS in accordance with §636.13.
(b) If NRCS terminates a cost-share agreement, the participant will forfeit all rights to future payments under the agreement, shall pay liquidated damages, in an amount determined by the State Conservationist in accordance with the terms of the agreement, and shall refund all or part of the payments received, plus interest. Participants violating WHIP cost-share agreements may be determined ineligible for future NRCS-administered conservation program funding.
(1) NRCS may require a participant to provide only a partial refund of the payments received if a previously installed conservation practice can function independently, and is not adversely affected by the violation or the absence of other conservation practices that would have been installed under the cost-share agreement.
(2) The State Conservationist will have the option to waive all or part of the liquidated damages assessed, depending upon the circumstances of the case.
(c) When making termination decisions, the NRCS may reduce the amount of money owed by the participant by a proportion that reflects:
(1) The good faith effort of the participant to comply with the cost-share agreement, or
(2) The existence of hardships beyond the participant's control that have prevented compliance. If a participant claims hardship, that claim must be documented and cannot have existed when the applicant applied for participation in the program.
