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High Demand for Conservation Reserve Program’s Reallocated SAFE Acres
Iowa, Idaho, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota Report Rapid Enrollment.

Pheasants Forever

Saint Paul, Minn. --(AmmoLand.com)- On Monday morning, 150,000 acres were opened to landowner enrollment through the Conservation Reserve Program’s (CRP) State Acres For wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) practice.

By Tuesday morning, states were already reporting their allotted acreages were fully enrolled. U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the reallocation of these SAFE acres just over two weeks ago on February 27th at Pheasants Foerver’s National Pheasant Fest in Des Moines, Iowa.

Iowa, Idaho, Minnesota, Nebraska, and both Dakotas have reported extremely high demand for the newly reallocated acres. Iowa filled their 9,000 acre reallocation by the end of Monday. Idaho expects to fully enroll their new 16,000 acre reallocation by the end of this week. Minnesota has also experienced high demand and expects their 10,800 acres to be gone soon. Nebraska landowners have offered well over their available 4,500 reallocated acres to once again cap out their two SAFE programs. North Dakota’s 18,000 acres were committed by the end of Tuesday. And, South Dakota’s 18,000 reallocated acres are also expected to be fully enrolled by week’s end with 11,000 under contract by Wednesday morning.

“There is obviously pent up demand for available SAFE acres from farmers and ranchers. That’s great news for wildlife,” reported Dave Nomsen, Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s Vice President of Government Affairs. “The wildlife success stories that SAFE has delivered, coupled with the landowner demand we are currently experiencing are certainly our two strongest allies as we go back to Secretary Vilsack and request additional SAFE acres.”

SAFE acres focus on environmentally sensitive land, as well as species that have suffered significant population declines and/or are considered to be socially or economically valuable. This is the newest CRP practice (CP 38). States and target species include North Dakota pheasants, South Dakota grassland birds, Idaho Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, Minnesota pheasants, Mississippi bobwhite quail, Nebraska upland habitats, Iowa pheasants and upland birds, Illinois pheasants and upland habitat, and Georgia bobwhite quail.

“Local Natural Resources Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency employees, along with Pheasants Forever Farm Bill biologists, deserve a tremendous amount of credit for turning these newly allocated SAFE acres into landowner contracts in such a short window of time,” added Nomsen.

Also during his National Pheasant Fest visit last month, Secretary Vilsack announced the reallocation of 100,000 acres for CRP’s “Bobwhite Buffers” practice (CP 33), 50,000 acres for CRP’s “Duck Nesting Habitat Initiative” practice (CP 37), and plans for the first general CRP signup in four years.

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U.S. Bobcat Proposal Fails to Receive International Support
Even though USA & Canada have successfully managed bobcats for 30 years…

American Bob Cat

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

International - -(AmmoLand.com)- The proposal to remove the bobcat (Lynx rufus) from the list of species of wildlife regulated in the international trade was rejected by the Parties reviewing proposals today at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP15) to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The United States introduced the proposal to remove the bobcat from Appendix II listing, which regulates their international trade.

The parties participated in considerable debate and there were divergent points of view on the proposal, including a strong showing of support by Canada which shares management of Lynx rufus with the U.S.

Opposition to the proposal focused on issues concerning the possible impact to illegal trade of other listed spotted cats due to their similarity of appearance. The final vote in the Committee was 53 in support, 46 opposed and 15 abstentions. The final decision will be made by the plenary session of the CoP15 on the final day of the conference. Typically, that vote follows the recommendation of the Committee.

The United States held a workshop in Brussels in 2008, to work with the European Union to resolve concerns over the similarity of appearance issue concerning the bobcat and other endangered spotted cats. The United States also developed a draft identification guide to assist wildlife law enforcement officers in identifying Lynx rufus from other protected spotted cats. The United States pointed out that bobcat populations in the U.S. have been managed sustainably by state wildlife agencies for over 30 years and are not detrimentally affected by commercial trade. In fact, populations are increasing and recent surveys demonstrate that the population in the United States is between 1.7 and 2.6 million.

For more information about the bobcat and the United States proposal, visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website at http://www.uscites.gov/species/bobcat,

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