An owner or operator who has entered into a CRP contract prior to November 28, 1990, may elect to convert areas of highly erodible cropland, subject to such contract, that is devoted to permanent vegetative cover, from such cover to hardwood trees, (including alley cropping and riparian buffers of hardwood trees, where permitted by CCC), windbreaks, shelterbelts, or wildlife corridors.
(a) For any contract modified under this section, the participant may elect to extend such contract in accordance with the provisions of Sec. 1410.7(b).
(b) For any contract modified under this section in which such areas are converted to windbreaks, shelterbelts, or wildlife corridors, the owner must agree to maintain such plantings for a time period established by the Deputy Administrator at the time of the contract modification.
(c) CCC shall, as it determines appropriate, pay up to 50 percent of the eligible cost of establishing new conservation measures authorized under this section, except that the total cost-share paid under such contract, including cost-share assistance paid when the original cover was established, may not exceed the amount by which CCC would have paid had such land been originally devoted to such new conservation measures.
(d) For any contract modified under this section, the participant must participate in the Forest Stewardship Program (16 U.S.C. 2103a).