Habitat Cost-Share (WHIP)

ODWC reimburses up to $4,500 per landowner per year for habitat work. Applications are accepted September 1 to December 31. There is no minimum acreage.

Who can apply

Any landowner in Oklahoma, statewide, on private property, regardless of property size.

Lessees can apply too, on leased property, but you must supply a copy of a lease showing management capability across the full ten-year maintenance period. If your lease is shorter than that, have the landowner apply instead.

What the money is for

Approved work includes timber thinning or creating small openings in timber stands, native grass planting, eastern red cedar removal, firebreak installation, native tree or shrub planting, and small wetland creation.

The timeline is slower than you expect

This is the part that surprises people. Apply between September and December, and a panel reviews all of that calendar year’s applications the following June. You hear back on or shortly after July 1.

1. September 1 – December 31: submit your application.
2. A Private Lands Biologist contacts you, visits the property and helps build a habitat improvement plan with reimbursement estimates.
3. June: a panel of ODWC biologists reviews the year’s applications.
4. On or shortly after July 1: you are notified.
5. Within 30 days of that notice, return the signed contract and plan. No reimbursable work may begin before this.
6. Complete all work by June 30 of that fiscal year.
7. Your biologist inspects and measures the work; reimbursement follows.

An application filed in December waits roughly seven months for an answer.

The commitment

A one-year contract to do the work, followed by a ten-year agreement to maintain it. ODWC’s own example: install a mile of firebreak, and they expect a functioning firebreak a decade later.

The money

Reimbursement is partial and comes after the work is done. This is not an up-front grant. The ceiling is $4,500 per participant per year, not per project. Two projects in one year do not yield $9,000.

Veterans

WHIP is not a veteran program. Veterans qualify on the same basis as any other Oklahoma landowner.

Official resources

• ODWC, Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program
• WHIP Bulletin (PDF) ODWC revises this in place, always open it from the program page

Related pages

• Public land leases
• Rural property and agriculture