Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation

Buffalo, Missouri --(Ammoland.com)-  “We have been watching the Farm Bill closely at QUWF and have the latest news” states Nick Prough, Chief Biologist for QUWF.

From WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2012—Acting Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services (FFAS) Michael Scuse announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will conduct a four-week Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general signup, beginning on March 12 and ending on April 6.

CRP has a 25-year legacy of successfully protecting the nation’s natural resources through voluntary participation, while providing significant economic and environmental benefits to rural communities across the United States.

“It is USDA’s goal to ensure that we use CRP to address our most critical resource issues,” said Scuse. “CRP is an important program for protecting our most environmentally sensitive lands from erosion and sedimentation, and for ensuring the sustainability of our groundwater, lakes, rivers, ponds and streams. As always, we expect strong competition to enroll acres into CRP, and we urge interested producers to maximize their environmental benefits and to make cost-effective offers.”

CRP is a voluntary program available to agricultural producers to help them use environmentally sensitive land for conservation benefits. Producers enrolled in CRP plant long-term, resource-conserving covers to improve the quality of water, control soil erosion and develop wildlife habitat. In return, USDA provides participants with rental payments and cost-share assistance. Contract duration is between 10 and 15 years.

“Programs for wildlife are critical for the resource, and the Farm Bill provides private landowners many programs to enhance areas of their lands for wildlife. Sign up by landowners we hope, will be a top priority and they act very quickly to enroll and maintain the acres needed to preserve many species of upland game across the country” states Craig Alderman, QUWF Director.

Recently many landowners are considering taking marginal lands out of the CRP programs to maximize crop production as prices increase and the land use becomes more valuable, a critical danger for wildlife.

Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation, Inc., a tax exempt 501(c)(3) conservation organization, was formed to serve its members and chapters nationwide, providing a strong local source of habitat focus on quail and upland wildlife and population recovery. Millions of dollars of habitat work have been completed by its members over the years on thousands of acres of both private and public lands, now that work continues with a renewed vitality. Our chapters from coast to coast, provide the grass roots, local habitat work that is making a difference each and every day. For more information or to join QUWF please visit our website at www.quwf.net.

Conservation Reserve Program - Cost Versus Value

Delta Waterfowl

Bismarck, ND --(Ammoland.com)- The U.S. fiscal crisis has put all government expenditures under the microscope or on the chopping block.

Politicians of every persuasion are talking about ways to remedy our burgeoning federal deficit.

Super committees have been created and have died. And despite the rhetoric from pundits and economic experts, there is no clear pathway forward to address our chronic problem of too much expense and too little revenue in our federal government.

For the record, I am a fiscal conservative who is wary of burgeoning spending. I, too, am concerned about the litany of reports of governmental inefficiency or out-right waste.

But a recent indictment of the Conservation Reserve Program from policymakers, duck hunters and other sportsmen and women indicate an information vacuum of epic proportions. Boiled down, the perception is one of program costs versus program benefits.

CRP is continually the focus of policymaker’s budget thrashing. It is, after all, the 900-pound gorilla of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s conservation programming. It impacts more acreage, is costly and thusly gets more scrutiny than any other conservation action. CRP is also in the crosshairs of some interests groups because they believe eliminating CRP would increase crop acreage, increase commodity inventory and drive commodity prices down.

Looking at any expenditure independent of its value proposition is a dangerous game. Taking shots at CRP’s price tag (roughly $2 billion annually) while not considering the program’s broad conservation, environmental and societal benefits is weak policy analysis. It is superficial hacking with no understanding of the implications.

So while the 2.5 million ducks produced annually on CRP lands (and I think this estimate is grossly low for about 2.5 million reasons), bumper crops of ring-neck pheasants and abundant bobolinks and meadowlarks certainly doesn’t justify the price tag, consider the following stats cited by a recent article in the Minneapolis Star and Tribune:

• CRP lands retained 1.86 billion pounds of nitrogen
• CRP lands retained 420 million pounds of phosphorous
• CRP lands secured 1.8 billion tons of top soil
• CRP reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 200 million tons in the last four years

Furthermore, those figures don’t quantify the value CRP has in terms of cleaning up our water supply, mitigating flooding (which costs untold billions annually), and providing access to quality hunting lands.

I know I can’t associate the value of reductions of nitrogen or phosphorous pollution or what the public value of 1.8 billion tons of top soil are, but I do know the federal government was pondering a cap and trade program that would have had untold costs to reduce carbon emissions when CRP is at least partially carrying the load right now with so many other benefits and at likely a much lower cost. Here we have the societal, or taxpayer benefits, of CRP.

A study by the University of Tennessee’s Agriculture Policy Analysis Center in 2006 deduced that eliminating CRP would cost the American taxpayer $33 billion over a ten-year period. Why? Because agriculture support on those acres would cost taxpayers far more on a per acre basis than CRP rental rates. It’s true that commodity prices are changing and agricultural support programs are different, but have they changed to the degree that it would erase a $33 billion deficit I find it hard to believe it has changed that much. So the long-term consequences of eliminating or even cutting CRP may well represent an increase in government spending—not exactly the outcome budget hawks in D.C. (or the American public) is after.

And let’s not forget America’s farmers and ranchers—they own the land upon which our ducks and other critters are raised. CRP has been, by any measure, the most significant partnership between agriculture and conservation. Its sheer scale of impact dwarfs any other conservation action that has ever graced North America.

Why? Because it worked within a farmer’s operation, provided a new product on marginal land, provided a hedge against the highly volatile commodity markets and provided insulation against the vagaries of weather. Many farmers are not re-enrolling their CRP lands. That is their prerogative. But with recent reductions in national CRP acreage caps, farmers willing to enroll in the program are being turned away. Yes, despite high commodity prices, surging cash rent, etc., farmers still want CRP because they want to contribute to conservation and environmental outcomes on their land.

I know our country needs to get its fiscal house in order. There is no denying the criticalness of the task. No aspect of the federal budget should be off limits for debate, dialog and evaluation for spending reductions. CRP may need to be amongst the good programming that needs trimming. If so, so be it.

But it is our role as hunters and anglers to ensure policymakers and the public at large know the facts. Let’s make decisions with the best information at hand. Let’s look at value. Let’s look at benefits. Let’s look at outcomes. I have a hunch CRP will come out better than a goodly chunk of government spending.

Rant over.

About:
Delta Waterfowl provides knowledge, leaders and science-based solutions that efficiently conserve waterfowl and secure the future for waterfowl hunting. Visit: www.deltawaterfowl.org

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON --(Ammoland.com)- Sportsmen-conservationists today condemned a federal decision to defund a keystone land conservation program, the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program, also known as Open Fields, that facilitates responsive private lands management practices and public access for activities such as hunting and angling, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership announced.

“While the necessity of reducing federal spending is inarguable, the truth is that Farm Bill conservation programs like VPA-HIP are critical to the more than $95 billion in economic activity annually contributed by hunting and angling,” said Jennifer Mock Schaeffer, Farm Bill coordinator for the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies.

“We are deeply disappointed by the shortsighted decision to completely eliminate fiscal year 2012 funding for VPA-HIP, which can help stabilize an economy already taxed to the point of collapse.”

The fiscal year 2012 “minibus” conference report, unveiled on Monday by House and Senate appropriators, would fund the U.S. Department of Agriculture along with a range of other federal entities.

In addition to VPA-HIP, numerous Farm Bill conservation programs face drastic cuts:

• · Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program cut by $35 million;
• · Wetlands Reserve Program cut by approximately $200 million;
• · Grasslands Reserve Program cut by approximately $30 million;
• · Environmental Quality Incentives Program cut by $350 million.

“Dedicated and ongoing work by the sportsman-conservation community has been instrumental in bolstering Farm Bill programs that play a key role in conserving privately owned lands and waters,” said Steve Moyer, vice president of government relations for Trout Unlimited.

“Programs such as Open Fields, which address the paramount issue of public access to these areas, help perpetuate our outdoor traditions, along with the significant economic boost they provide rural communities all across the country.”

A vital part of U.S. private-lands conservation, the Farm Bill has helped conserve and enhance millions of acres of fish and wildlife habitat and the hunting and fishing opportunities they provide. VPA-HIP, which incentivizes owners and operators of privately held farm, ranch and forest lands to provide public access to their lands for wildlife-dependent activities such as hunting and fishing, was included in the 2008 Farm Bill for the first time in large part due to the efforts of the TRCP and its partner groups.

“Loss of access is the No. 1 reason hunters and anglers stop pursuing the traditions we enjoy,” said Steve Kline, director of the TRCP Center for Agricultural and Private Lands.

“For a program like VPA-HIP to be eliminated in the rush to cut spending means Congress will be turning ‘Open for Hunting’ signs into ‘Posted: No Trespassing’ signs all across the country, with real impacts on local economies.”

The TRCP’s farm policy work is guided by the Agriculture and Wildlife Working Group, composed of representatives from the nation’s leading sportsmen’s groups and formed by the TRCP to provide recommendations to Congress and the administration on Farm Bill conservation programs critical to private lands conservation and hunting and angling.

Learn more about the TRCP’s agricultural and private lands conservation work.

Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations and grassroots partners working together to preserve the traditions of hunting and fishing.

USDA Forest Service

WASHINGTON, DC --(Ammoland.com)- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced developments in two popular USDA programs that will support conservation of working lands for the benefit of wildlife, water quality, and recreation.

The Secretary announced that USDA will accept 2.8 million acres offered by landowners under the 41st Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up.

The selections preserve and enhance environmentally sensitive lands while providing payments to property owners.

Additionally, USDA has approved eight additional states and one tribal government to participate in the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program (VPA-HIP), which encourages private landowners to provide public access to their lands for wildlife-dependant recreational opportunities, including fishing and hunting.

“USDA is committed to enhancing the great conservation legacy of our nation’s hunters and anglers to benefit current and future generations,” said Vilsack. “VPA-HIP and the CRP not only help achieve conservation goals, but also increase opportunities for hunting, fishing and other wildlife-dependant recreational activities by providing additional access to privately held lands. CRP assists private landowners and producers as they voluntarily protect their most environmentally sensitive lands.”

For this 41st general CRP sign-up, more than 38,000 offers were received on about 3.8 million acres nationwide. Enrollment of the 2.8 million acres will bring the total enrollment in the program to 29.9 million acres, leaving sufficient room under the 32-million-acre cap to continue enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, continuous sign-up and other CRP initiatives. The Secretary has asked FSA to continue to consider ways to use continuous enrollments to ensure CRP contains those lands that are most erodible, most valuable to wildlife or that otherwise ensure the program targets the most vulnerable acres.

Under CRP, farmers and ranchers plant grasses and trees in crop fields and along streams or rivers. The plantings reduce soil and prevent nutrients washing into waterways, reduce soil erosion that may otherwise contribute to poor air and water quality, and provide valuable habitat for wildlife. The CRP has restored more than two million acres of wetlands and associated buffers and reduced soil erosion by more than 400 million tons per year.

USDA selected offers for enrollment based on an Environmental Benefits Index (EBI) comprised of five environmental factors plus cost. The five environmental factors were: (1) wildlife enhancement, (2) water quality, (3) soil erosion, (4) enduring benefits and (5) air quality. The minimal acceptable EBI level for this sign-up was 221.

The average rental rate per acre for this sign-up is about $48. USDA implemented a number of measures including using additional EBI point incentives for producers to submit cost-effective offers and producer outreach activities to encourage competitive offers on the most environmentally sensitive lands. These measures will maintain the high environmental benefits while decreasing the historic cost of the program.

With today’s VPA-HIP announcement, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming join Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin as states participating in the program. Also participating are the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. The total amount of VPA-HIP funds to be obligated in 2011 is $17.8 million with $4.6 million of that total being allocated as part of today’s announcement.

The VPA-HIP program expands existing efforts or develops new initiatives to encourage owners and operators of privately held farm, ranch and forest land to voluntarily provide public access for the enjoyment of wildlife-dependent recreation, including hunting or fishing, in exchange for financial incentives or other assistance under programs implemented by state or tribal governments. VPA-HIP is a competitive grants program that is only available to state and tribal governments. Funding may be used to expand existing public access programs, create new public access programs or provide incentives to improve wildlife habitat on enrolled lands.

Up to $50 million is authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill through VPA-HIP through fiscal year 2012.State and tribal grant recipients use the federal funding to provide additional landowner incentives or assistance in order to increase the number of acres available for public access.

To learn more about CRP, visit your FSA county office or online at www.fsa.usda.gov/crp.

For more information on VPA-HIP, visit http://www.fsa.usda.gov/vpa.

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON --(Ammoland.com)- As House appropriators deliberate the Department of Agriculture’s budget for fiscal year 2012, sportsmen are sharply criticizing cuts proposed for Farm Bill conservation programs instrumental to fish and wildlife habitat and hunting and fishing, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership announced today.

The House Appropriations Committee is meeting this afternoon to consider more than a billion dollars in reductions to mandatory conservation programs agreed to last week by the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee.

• Conservation programs facing drastic cuts include the following:
• The USDA conservation operations budget would be cut by $128 million.
• The Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) would be cut by $35 million.
• The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) would be reduced by 64,200 acres.
• The Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP) would be reduced by 96,000 acres.
• The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) would be cut by $350 million.
• Funding for the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program (VPA/HIP), also known as Open Fields, would be completely eliminated.

“Agricultural- and private-lands conservation remains a cornerstone of the TRCP’s policy work, and the efforts of the TRCP and our partner organizations have been instrumental in bolstering vital conservation programs in previous Farm Bills,” said Steve Kline, director of the TRCP Center for Agricultural and Private Lands.

“The reductions presently being considered represent a quarter century of taxpayer investment in conservation. Sportsmen strongly oppose these cuts.”

The TRCP’s farm policy work is guided by the Agriculture and Wildlife Working Group, formed by the TRCP to provide recommendations to Congress and the administration on conservation programs in the 2008 bill. Composed of representatives from the nation’s leading sportsmen’s groups, the AWWG currently is developing recommendations for the 2012 Farm Bill.

“These proposed reductions will hamstring the USDA’s ability to responsibly manage priority fish and wildlife habitats and help landowners reduce potential threats to their operations associated with priority wildlife concerns such as lesser prairie chickens, sage grouse, and New England cottontail, all of which are candidate species for listing under the ESA,” said Jennifer Mock Schaeffer, Farm Bill coordinator for the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies and AWWG chair.

“We prefer to use WHIP, EQIP, GRP and other conservation programs to help producers address these priority habitat concerns,” continued Mock Schaeffer, “and in the process to try to preclude the need to list the species. Cutting funding from these programs will eliminate opportunities to help private landowners and operators sustain their operations and secure these important wildlife habitats on privately owned lands.”

“Increasingly, sportsmen cite the inability to access lands and waters as an obstacle to hunting and fishing,” said Dave Nomsen, vice president of government affairs for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever and AWWG member. “VPA/HIP, or Open Fields, addresses this problem by encouraging owners of privately held farm, ranch and forest lands to enable public access to their properties for wildlife-dependent recreation. VPA was included in the 2008 Farm Bill thanks to the unflagging support of hunters and anglers, and American sportsmen now urge continued funding of this critical and strictly voluntary public-access program.”

The Farm Bill is a vital part of U.S. private-lands conservation. Millions of acres of fish and wildlife habitat and the hunting and fishing opportunities they provide have been conserved and enhanced through Farm Bill programs. The TRCP Agriculture and Wildlife Working Group is committed to ensuring that the 2012 Farm Bill authorizes and strongly funds conservation programs and builds on a conservation legacy that secures America’s outdoor heritage.

“While sportsmen acknowledge the need for the federal government to reduce spending levels, we can’t forget that Farm Bill conservation programs like WRP and GRP are the underpinning of the almost $80 billion dollars a year that hunters and anglers spend pursuing fish and game,” said Dan Wrinn, director of public policy for Ducks Unlimited. “Furthermore, many of these expenditures are in rural areas, where communities already are struggling in these hard economic times.”

Funding for Farm Bill conservation programs already was reduced by nearly $500 million in the FY 2011 budget, and the House’s proposed cuts cast further doubt on conservation funding in the 2012 Farm Bill. The Senate will be considering agriculture spending requests later this year.

Learn more about the TRCP’s agricultural- and private-lands conservation work.

About:
Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations and grassroots partners working together to preserve the tradition of hunting and fishing. Visit: www.trcp.org

Celebrating 25 Years of New Habitat Creation

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON --(Ammoland.com)- The CRP enables public access to quality hunting and angling resources that otherwise would be unavailable. Idaho Fish and Game/Michael Woodruff.

A standout U.S. Department of Agriculture initiative known as the Conservation Reserve Program is celebrating 25 years of success in ensuring quality fish and wildlife habitat and resources for sportsmen, and we want your help in saying thanks!

The CRP is a volunteer-based program that encourages agricultural and private landowners to convert highly erodible cropland to fish and wildlife friendly cover – often favored by game birds such as pheasants, quail and mallards.

Through the CRP, landowners receive payments and cost-share assistance in establishing long-term conservation practices on farmland. Combined with other Farm Bill programs such as the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive or “Open Fields” Program, the CRP enables public access to quality hunting and angling resources that otherwise would be unavailable.

Today, the total CRP enrollment stands at 31.3 million acres – acres that create habitat, reduce soil erosion and sustain water quality. Take a moment now to thank the USDA for creating the CRP.

Send an e-mail to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at AgSec@USDA.gov with the following message (or write your own!)

“As a sportsman, I can only hope that future generations of Americans will have the same hunting and fishing memories I have experienced. Initiatives like the Conservation Reserve Program help make this dream a reality by converting marginal cropland into quality habitat. Thank you for working to keep the CRP a priority for the USDA.”

About:
Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations and grassroots partners working together to preserve the tradition of hunting and fishing. Visit: www.trcp.org

Mallard Ducklings Benefit: Photo Delta Waterfowl

Delta Waterfowl

Bismarck, ND --(Ammoland.com)- Preliminary research results from Delta Waterfowl indicates managing predators can be an effective tool in significantly increasing nest success in landscapes with limited grass nesting cover and those suffering from chronically low duck production.

Delta researchers recently finished work on eight low-grass sites located in North Dakota and Manitoba, and the results were encouraging: nest success on two predator-controlled blocks near Minnedosa, Manitoba averaged 43.3 percent, while nest success on similar sites that weren’t trapped was three percent.

Delta started trapping low-grass sites after research showed that ducks nesting in areas with an abundance of grass–like Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields in the U.S.–often produce at population-expanding levels without the help of predator management. But Canada has no CRP-type program, and with CRP acres being broken on the U.S. side of the breeding grounds, finding ways to increase nest-success on low-grass areas became a priority.

“The results are very encouraging,” says Delta Scientific Director Dr. Frank Rohwer, “especially in light of the chronic low duck production that is all too common across large expanses of the Canadian prairies. The Canadian ‘duck factory’ is broken. Nest success of three percent is well below what’s needed just to maintain populations. We’re exploring all possible solutions to increase duck production and we’re hopeful predator management is one of them.”

One significant change at the Canadian sites this year was reducing the size of the test areas from 36 square miles to either 25 or 16 square miles. The goal was to increase trapping intensity by focusing trapping efforts on smaller parcels of land. Researchers believe the more intense trapping activity for raccoons, skunks and fox contributed to the high nest success.

The Canadian sites are located in the “parkland” region of western Manitoba. This area, with relatively stable water conditions and a high density of breeding ducks, is a priority area for waterfowl conservation.

“Nesting ducks need relief from the growing number of small predators,” says Dr. Rohwer. “This is a system out of balance. We created it and it’s likely going to take human intervention to bring the balance back between predator and prey species.”

In North Dakota, researchers focused their efforts on sites with relatively little grass cover, less than 10 percent. Biologists have already confirmed that ducks struggle to reproduce in areas with scarce nesting cover.

Results from these areas also suggest predator management is an effective method of increasing nest success. The two-year average for nest success on North Dakota trapped blocks was 28.1 percent, compared to a success rate of 6.4 percent on the non-trapped, control sites.

Delta Waterfowl has been conducting research on predator management since 1994.

“After 17 years of research, we’re learning where and when and how it’s best to trap to increase duck production,” says Delta President Rob Olson. “While these results are preliminary and while it will take more time and evaluation to confirm that predator management will work in the parklands and areas of the Dakotas where nesting cover is scarce, we’re pleased by the results.”

Delta Waterfowl plans to continue its predator management research next year in both low-grass and parkland regions.

Delta Waterfowl Student Researchers: Photo Delta Waterfowl

About:
Delta Waterfowl provides knowledge, leaders and science-based solutions that efficiently conserve waterfowl and secure the future for waterfowl hunting. Visit: www.deltawaterfowl.org

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON --(Ammoland.com)- On Sept. 14, the USDA announced a 4.3-million acre increase to the Conservation Reserve Program, a component of the Farm Bill that helps enhance private-lands fish and wildlife habitat important to sportsmen.

We want to thank those who made this possible by enrolling land in the CRP.

The addition of these millions of acres will maintain and enhance the landscape-level benefits that the CRP already has achieved over the past 25 years, including restoration of 2 million acres of wetlands and adjacent buffers and conservation of 170,000 miles of streams.

These activities have helped annually produce 13.5 million pheasants nationwide and 2.2 million ducks in the Prairie Pothole Region alone.

Under the CRP, farmers and ranchers implement conservation practices in previously cropped fields with highly erodible land and along streams or rivers, reducing the amount of soil and nutrients that wash into waterways, diminishing soil erosion that otherwise may contribute to poor air and water quality, and providing valuable habitat for fish and wildlife.

New CRP acres will enhance private-lands fish and wildlife habitat important to sportsmen. Photo courtesy of Missouri Department of Conservation.

At 31.2 million acres, the CRP program is nearing full enrollment – an outcome that the TRCP and our partners have advocated since the program’s inception.

The TRCP and members of our Agriculture and Wildlife Working Group are working to ensure the inclusion of the CRP and other conservation programs in the 2010 Farm Bill’s conservation title, the single-largest source of federal funding for private-lands conservation programs.

Learn more about the TRCP’s work to conserve private lands important to sportsmen through federal policy such as the Farm Bill.

About:
Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations and grassroots partners working together to preserve the traditions
of hunting and fishing. Visit: www.trcp.org

USDA Forest Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2010 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA will accept 4.3 million acres offered by landowners under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up.

The selections preserve and enhance environmentally sensitive lands, including wetlands, while providing payments to property owners.

“Interest in this open enrollment period was high, and I’m pleased that producers and landowners across the nation continue to realize the environmental benefits of enrolling land in the CRP,” said Secretary Vilsack.

For this 39th general sign-up more than 50,000 offers were received on more than 4.8 million acres, nationwide. Enrollment of the 4.3 million acres will keep the program enrollment close to the 32 million acre statutory cap, which will maintain and enhance the significant environmental benefits the program has already achieved. CRP’s 39th signup will bring the total enrollment in the program to 31.2 million acres, leaving sufficient room under the 32 million acre cap to continue enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, continuous signup and other CRP initiatives through FY 2011.

Under CRP, farmers and ranchers plant grasses and trees in crop fields and along streams or rivers. The plantings reduce soil and nutrients from washing into waterways, reduce soil erosion that may otherwise contribute to poor air and water quality, and provide valuable habitat for wildlife. Plant cover established on the acreage accepted into the CRP will reduce nutrient and sediment runoff in our nation’s rivers and streams. The CRP has restored more than two million acres of wetlands and associated buffers and reduced soil erosion by more than 400 million tons per year.

USDA selected offers for enrollment based on an Environmental Benefits Index (EBI) comprised of five environmental factors plus cost. The five environmental factors are: (1) wildlife enhancement, (2) water quality, (3) soil erosion, (4) enduring benefits, and (5) air quality. The minimal acceptable EBI level for this signup is 200.

The average rental rate per acre for this signup is about $46. USDA implemented a number of measures including using additional EBI point incentives for producers to submit cost-effective offers, and producer outreach activities to encourage competitive offers on the most environmentally sensitive lands. These measures will maintain the high environmental benefits while decreasing the historic cost of the program.

Under CRP, there are more than 31.3 million acres enrolled on more than 473,000 contracts. These 10 to 15 year contracts provide long term enduring conservation benefits in return for an annual rental payment.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice), or (202) 720-6382 (TDD).

Ducks Unlimited

BROOKINGS, S.D. --(Ammoland.com)- Landowners can benefit their operations, improve water quality and control flooding all while conserving wetlands for waterfowl and other wildlife through the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP).

Ducks Unlimited (DU) Conservation Biologist, Dan Limmer is working in partnership with the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (SDGFP) to find these win-win opportunities and address the tremendous demand for WRP in eastern South Dakota.

Limmer’s position was created through a partnership with SDGFP, NRCS and DU. Through the NRCS’s Red River Basin Initiative, Limmer is working in NRCS field offices helping interested landowners address flood control and water quality issues. On board since April, Limmer has already helped secure 54 WRP contracts conserving just under 5,000 acres.

Duck Fever: Catch it Today!

“My position was created because there is tremendous interest in WRP from landowners in eastern South Dakota,” Limmer said. “The NRCS needed help with the significant workload that goes along with administering this program, and the workload keeps growing.”

Currently in South Dakota there are over 1,000 WRP easements in place conserving nearly 80,000 acres. With Limmer’s help, DU, SDGFP and NRCS hope to expand that number and work with the landowners who have been waiting for WRP contracts.

“This partnership has worked out exceptionally well,” said Curtis Elke, assistant state conservationist with the NRCS. “The demand for WRP has grown exponentially in the last few years, and we are hoping to add another person like Dan to help us serve our customers’ requests.”

WRP is a voluntary program that helps landowners protect, restore and enhance wetlands on their property.

The NRCS administers the program and provides incentives and technical assistance for landowners with the goal of restoring wetland functions to the landscape and providing quality wildlife habitat.

In the end, landowners benefit by being compensated for retiring marginal land from agriculture and the landscape benefits by the conservation of soil, water and wetland resources.

“WRP is an exceptional program for many, and with the amount of rainfall we have received in recent years, it is helping landowners continue to receive income from land that has less production value,” Elke said.

“I am a producer and I grew up on a farm so I bring that perspective to this job, I know the problems landowners face with management and conservation and have a good idea what they are looking for in a conservation program,” Limmer said.

Limmer has a strong background in natural resources. He has worked for South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks as a habitat biologist and watershed project coordinator as well a conservation officer.

Limmer also has experience in natural resources policy, working for several non-government conservation organizations as a private consultant.

If you are interested in sighing up for WRP you can contact Dan Limmer through the NRCS Brookings Field Support Office, 523rd Ave., Brookings, S.D., 605-692-2344.

Ducks Unlimited is the world’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving North America’s continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 12 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever.

CRP Signup Will Produce More Wildlife On Farmland

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON --(Ammoland.com)- The long-awaited general signup for CRP is finally upon us. Landowners should take advantage of this opportunity to boost wildlife habitat and sporting opportunities.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced Conservation Reserve Program general signup 39, the first general signup opportunity since 2006.

During the signup period, landowners may offer eligible land for the CRP’s competitive general signup at their county Farm Service Agency offices. Landowners who bid successfully are eligible to receive per-acre payments and incentives for initiating conservation practices on their land.

A component of the Farm Bill, the CRP encourages farmers and ranchers to plant ground cover that bolsters soil, water and wildlife resources, improving habitat for waterfowl, upland birds and wild turkeys. It also promotes installation of filter strips and riparian buffers, sustaining water quality by reducing sedimentation and chemical runoff.

Through the CRP, private landowners have restored 2 million acres of wetlands and adjacent buffers and conserved 170,000 miles of streams, resulting in the annual production of 13.5 million pheasants nationwide and 2.2 million ducks in the Prairie Pothole region. Visit the FSA website for detailed information about the CRP.

Signup 39 closes on Aug. 27. Sportsmen-landowners who care about conserving fish and wildlife habitat and upholding our outdoor traditions should consider offering acres for enrollment.

Locate your local USDA/FSA service center to learn more and schedule an appointment.

TRCP partners Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have Farm Bill biologists ready to work with landowners to answer questions and help with enrollment. Find a Farm Bill biologist in your area.

The Farm Bill is one of the nation’s most important pieces of legislation for soil and water quality and the fish and wildlife that require high-quality habitat. Read the TRCP report “Growing Conservation in the Farm Bill.”

SUPPORT THE TRCP’S WORK ON BEHALF OF OUR SPORTING HERITAGE.

Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations and grassroots partners working together to preserve the traditions of hunting and fishing.

Pheasants Forever

Lima, Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- August 9, 2010 – Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever announce Ted Welsh of Lima, Ohio, as its new Farm Bill Biologist for Allen, Putnam, Paulding, Van Wert Counties.

Created in partnership with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and local Pheasants Forever chapters, the position will provide conservation and land-use consulting to area landowners – and just in time for the new Conservation Reserve Program general sign-up.

Pheasants Forever’s Farm Bill Biologist program is designed to provide technical assistance to farmers and ranchers – through one-on-one consulting – about the benefits of conservation programs (such as the Conservation Reserve Program), as well as assisting farmers and landowners through program implementation. Pheasants Forever first began employing Farm Bill Biologists in 2003 and now has more than 60 biologists working in 11 states – Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Farm Bill Biologists have contacted and consulted with over 35,000 landowners, resulting in the improvement of over 1.4 million acres of land for wildlife.

“As someone who is passionate about wildlife conservation and also knowledgeable about agriculture, I am looking forward to working with landowners on plans for their properties,” Welsh said. Welsh joins Pheasants Forever in time to serve landowners during the CRP general sign-up happening until August 27th.

“We’re excited about the location and timing of this position,” said Jim Inglis, Pheasants Forever Farm Bill Biologist Coordinator, and a Marysville, Ohio, resident, “Welsh will provide a great service to landowners, and in doing so provides another great service to conservation.”

Prior to joining Pheasants Forever, Welsh worked as a charter boat captain at Sea Breeze Charter and also as a grounds man at Witts Orchard. Welsh earned his associates degree in fish and wildlife management from Hocking College and a bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University. He will be based out the USDA Paulding Service Center, NRCS building, in Paulding and can be contacted at (419) 306-2675 and twelsh@pheasantsforever.org.

PF Ohio Farm Bill Biologists

• Clint Geldine Hancock, Hardin OH cgeldine@pheasantsforever.org (419) 356-1927
• Bill Kiser Fayette, Pickaway, Ross OH bkiser@pheasantsforever.org (937) 751-3518
• Erik Lewis Butler, Greene, Miami, Montgomery, Preble OH elewis@pheasantsforever.org (937) 654-3884
• Brice Nemire Defiance, Fulton, Henry, Williams OH bnemire@pheasantsforever.org (419) 376-1340
• Mike Retterer Champaign, Clark, Logan, Madison, Union OH mretterer@pheasantsforever.org (937) 631-1064
• John Wallace Auglaize, Darke, Mercer, Shelby OH jwallace@pheasantsforever.org (937) 459-8085

For more information on Pheasants Forever in Ohio, visit www.ohiopf.com.

Pheasants Forever is dedicated to the conservation of pheasants, quail and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public awareness, education and land management policies and programs.

2010 Conservation Reserve Program General Sign Up Starts Today

Pheasants Forever

Aurora, Colo. --(Ammoland.com)- CRP sign-up 39 is the first general signup opportunity since 2006. Consider offering acres for enrollment today, as the sign-up period closes on Friday, August 27th.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced new Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up 39. CRP acres provide the top nationwide habitat component in producing quail, while providing a host of soil, water quality and environmental benefits.
What:

During the sign-up period, farmers and ranchers may offer eligible land for CRP’s competitive general sign-up at their county Farm Service Agency (FSA) office. It is recommended that you contact your local FSA Service Center to schedule an appointment.

When:
Monday, August 2nd through Friday, August 27th.
Where:

• To find your local USDA/FSA service center CLICK HERE
• Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever Farm Bill Biologists are prepared to work with landowners through the entire sign-up period. To find the Farm Bill Biologist in your area, CLICK HERE

Helpful Links

• FSA’s General Sign-Up 39 Important Things to Know
• CRP Nationwide & State by State Statistics
• PF/QF Pollinator Habitat Guide

Your Thoughts
Share your CRP general sign-up experience or opinion by emailing Quail Forever at press@quailforever.org.

Media

• For CRP sign-up Public Service Announcements, CLICK HERE
• For inquiries, contact:
  Anthony Hauck
  Public Relations Specialist
  (651) 209-4972 ♦ ahauck@quailforever.org

Pheasants Forever

Saint Paul, Minn. –-(Ammoland.com)- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today that the new Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up will run Monday, August 2nd through Friday, August 27th.

Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever Farm Bill Biologists are prepared to work with landowners through the entire sign-up period.

The new general CRP signup will be the first since 2006, and landowner demand is expected to be strong, especially considering the USDA has updated soil rental rates since that last general signup.

“CRP continues to be a good option for producers to ensure income on the tough-to-farm and lowest producing acres,” said Dave Nomsen, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s Vice President of Government Affairs, “This general signup’s 4 million-plus acre nationwide allotment is likely to fill up quickly, so it’s critical that landowners get into their local USDA service centers immediately to examine CRP options on their land.”

Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 60 Farm Bill Biologists working at USDA service centers to provide one-on-one assistance to farmers and ranchers during the 2010 general sign-up.

The new CRP general sign-up arrives in time to address the 4.4 million acres of CRP expiring on September 30, 2010. It is also representative of USDA’s ongoing action to maximize the wildlife habitat and environmental benefits created via the program’s 25-year history. This February at Pheasants Forever’s National Pheasant Fest, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced his pledge to keep CRP fully enrolled at the federally mandated (via the 2008 Farm Bill) maximum level of 32 million acres. With an additional 14.2 million acres of CRP slated to expire between 2011 and 2013, the new general sign-up is the critical first step, said Nomsen.

Today’s announcement also resonates with pheasant hunters, as CRP acres provide the top nationwide habitat component in producing pheasants. Just three years removed from record-setting pheasant harvests (Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota); hunters have been disappointed in the 6.5 million acres that left the Conservation Reserve Program without a general signup. America’s quail populations continue their rapid decline because of habitat losses.

“This new general signup is critical to prevent us from losing more acres and for preventing continued population decline of the birds many of us love to pursue each autumn,” Nomsen added.

Nomsen also points out how understated CRP is to the rural environment and the rural economy. “For 25 years, CRP has been the nation’s single most important and successful conservation program, protecting water quality and soils, and creating habitat for a diverse mix of wildlife,” he said, “It’s a program critically important to the economy of rural America and our nation’s outdoor traditions. CRP in the next 25 years will continue all of these benefits, while also producing the habitat critical to pollinators and the $19 billion dollars honey bee pollination means to America’s agricultural economy.”

Since its formation in 1985, Pheasants Forever has been one of the nation’s strongest supporters of CRP. A voluntary program for agricultural landowners, CRP provides annual rental payments and cost-share assistance for the establishment of long-term, resource conserving covers on eligible farmland. The millions of acres of CRP lands in the United States protect topsoil erosion, improve water and air quality and is a major contributor to increasing wildlife populations – including pheasants and quail – in many parts of the country.

Pheasants Forever is dedicated to the conservation of pheasants, quail and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public awareness, education and land management policies and programs.

Pheasants Forever's Farm Bill Biologist Program

Pheasants Forever

Aurora, Colo. --(Ammoland.com)- Pheasants Forever has added three new Farm Bill biologists in Colorado through a partnership with the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

The partnering groups are focused on protecting environmentally sensitive agricultural lands through conservation programs and improving public hunting lands for wildlife.

“Partnerships are critical to accomplishing our habitat mission in this day and age,” explained Bob Hix, Pheasants Forever’s regional field representative for Colorado.

“All 17 Pheasants Forever chapters in the state, the Division of Wildlife, and the NRCS have joined together in partnership to fund these three new positions. These new employees will translate into thousands of acres of improved habitat and hunting access.”

Pheasants Forever’s Farm Bill Biologist program is designed to educate farmers and landowners – through one-on-one consulting - about the benefits of conservation programs (such as the Conservation Reserve Program and Environmental Quality Incentives Program), as well as assisting farmers and landowners through program implementation. Pheasants Forever first began employing Farm Bill Biologists in 2003 and now has more than 50 biologists working in ten states – Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Farm Bill Biologists have contacted and consulted with over 30,000 landowners, resulting in the improvement of more than 1.3 million acres of land for wildlife.

“The establishment of three new Farm Bill biologists in eastern Colorado really builds on each partners’ ability to deliver conservation to the landscape. Wildlife, private landowners, and wildlife enthusiasts will benefit greatly from the fruits of this partnership,” added Ed Gorman, Colorado Division of Wildlife’s small game coordinator.

The new Colorado Farm Bill Biologists include:

• Holyoke: Jerry Miller is a native of Northeastern Colorado, having grown up on a farm near the North Sterling Reservoir. He graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in forest management and most recently was employed as a conservation technician for the Haxtun and Sedgwick County Conservation Districts. He’s also been an active volunteer in PF’s Leopold Education Project and a member of the Phillips County PF Chapter. Jerry can be emailed at jmiller@pheasantsforever.org.
• Burlington:Kraig Paulson is moving to Colorado this week. Paulson holds a biology degree from the University of Wyoming and has been employed by Pheasants Forever since 2006. He started out as a PF habitat specialist in Montana and has spent the last couple years working as Pheasants Forever’s regional biologist for Washington and Oregon. Kraig can be contacted at kpaulson@pheasantsforever.org.
• Lamar:An Iowa native, Nathan Schmitz graduated from Iowa State University. Prior to joining Pheasants Forever, Schmitz worked for the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the University of Wyoming studying sage grouse. Nathan can be reached at nschmitz@pheasantsforever.org.

TRCP Commends USDA Decision to Fund Private-Lands Conservation Programs

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON, DC --(Ammoland.com)-The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership today commended a move by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund important private-lands conservation programs that help sustain valuable fish and wildlife habitat and enable access by hunters and anglers.

The USDA final draft crop insurance agreement invests billions of dollars in critical Farm Bill components such as the Conservation Reserve Program, America’s largest and most successful agricultural-lands conservation program.

The USDA decision generates $6 billion in savings, one-third of which will be dedicated toward deliverables that include increasing the enrollment acreage of the Conservation Reserve Program to the maximum authorized level of 32 million acres. The monies also will be invested in new and amended Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program initiatives and CRP monitoring.

“This far-reaching decision by the USDA marks a victory for agricultural-lands conservation and the sportsmen-conservation community,” said Tom Franklin, TRCP director of policy and government relations.

“These Farm Bill programs are crucial to our country’s ability to sustain private-lands fish and wildlife habitat – habitat that forms the bedrock of outdoor sporting traditions for millions of Americans.”

The Farm Bill is one of the nation’s most important pieces of legislation for soil and water quality and the fish and wildlife that require high-quality habitat. Its Conservation Reserve Program encourages farmers and ranchers to plant ground cover that bolsters soil, water and wildlife resources, improving habitat for waterfowl, upland birds and wild turkeys, and facilitates installation of filter strips and riparian buffers, sustaining water quality by reducing sedimentation and chemical runoff.

Through the CRP, private landowners have restored 2 million acres of wetlands and adjacent buffers and conserved 170,000 miles of streams, resulting in the annual production of 13.5 million pheasants nationwide and 2.2 million ducks in the Prairie Pothole region.

“The TRCP and our partners consistently have championed key components of the Farm Bill such as the Conservation Reserve Program,” Franklin continued, “and we appreciate the federal government’s willingness to invest in efforts that remain a priority for hunters and anglers.”

Yet the TRCP voiced continued concern about delays by the USDA’s Farm Service Agency in releasing regulations and funding for the Voluntary Access and Habitat Incentive Program, or “Open Fields,” which was authorized by Congress for the first time in the 2008 Farm Bill. Open Fields provides states $50 million in federal funds to create or enhance hunter-access programs on private lands and has been a flagship issue for the TRCP since the group’s inception.

Learn more about the TRCP’s work on the Farm Bill.

Read the TRCP report “Growing Conservation in the Farm Bill.”

Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations
and grassroots partners working together to preserve the traditions
of hunting and fishing.

Arkansas Bayou Meto Basin

Arkansas Game & Fish Commission

Arkansas --(Ammoland.com)- A long-awaited irrigation project soon will improve farming and wildlife habitat in eastern Arkansas, thanks to a shot in the arm from federal stimulus funds. U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln announced Friday that $37 million in federal stimulus money was awarded to the Bayou Meto Basin irrigation project, which has been in the planning stages since the 1950s.

“This project has been talked about my entire career,” said Craig Uyeda, chief of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Ecological and Engineering Services Division. “It was originally authorized by Congress in the Flood Control Act of 1950, but has seen setbacks and delays along the way.”

The federal stimulus money will be combined with $20.5 million in state funds for work on pump stations that will bring water from the Arkansas River to farms and drain water from low-lying areas such as Bayou Meto Wildlife Management Area.

According to Uyeda, the project has three main components – water supply, flood control and waterfowl management. The AGFC will not fund the water supply and flood control components, although it will be involved in waterfowl management. In January 2006, the Commission signed a minute order that authorized up to $8 million in matching funds for waterfowl management.

“All the components are important, but we are extremely excited about the possible impacts to habitat management from the project,” AGFC Commissioner George Dunklin Jr. said.

Dunklin says one of the key features to the waterfowl management portion of the project is a 1,000-cubic-feet-per-second pump that will move water from Little Bayou Meto into the Arkansas River.

“There have been monumental changes in farming and land use since Bayou Meto was established,” Dunklin said.

“Water gets there much more quickly and stays much longer. The WMA is at the bottom of the hill, so it catches and holds all that water, which can damage the cherrybark oaks, nuttall oaks and other valuable food sources in the bottomland hardwood habitat if it’s flooded too long during the growing season.”

The pump station will enable area managers to pull water off the oaks quickly during the growing season, preventing further stress and loss of acorn-producing trees.

“This is a critical first step to healing the woods and the wildlife habitat,” Dunklin said. “Without solving the drainage problem at Bayou Meto, many enhancements the AGFC can do would just be putting temporary Band-Aids on the issue.”

But the irrigation project isn’t an overnight solution.

“This is a long-term project that will benefit wildlife and hunters for decades to come,” Dunklin said. “Bayou Meto is the crown jewel of our public areas; almost 24 percent of hunters who use public ground in Arkansas visit this WMA. We have to keep our hunters at the forefront of our decisions. They are our partners in conservation and are the most passionate about protecting rich wildlife habitat, such as Bayou Meto.”

Great Start On Duck Nesting Grounds

Ducks Unlimited

MCCLUSKY, N.D. --(Ammoland.com)- The hills are alive with breeding ducks. Conditions in the U.S. Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) are excellent for waterfowl production. And birds are taking full advantage of the food and nesting cover available to them.

“When I’ve been out in the field, there were ducks everywhere. We’re seeing lots of breeding ducks, and all indications are we’ll have lots of hens nesting this year,” said Scott Stephens, director of conservation planning for Ducks Unlimited’s (DU) Great Plains Regional Office (GPRO). “We have had very wet conditions on the prairies, and that has caused many of the seasonal wetlands to be full of water and exploding with duck food.”

This spring DU research crews are searching winter wheat fields looking for duck nests to see how nests fare in fall-planted cereal crops compared to other nesting habitats.

Ducks researchers found these duck species already nesting on the prairie:

• Mallards
• Northern pintails
• Blue-winged teal
• Northern shovelers

Ducks expected to begin nesting soon:

• Gadwall
• Scaup

Samples taken from prairie wetlands were teaming with aquatic invertebrates, a vital food resource for nesting hens.

“The potholes were loaded with water boatmen, midges, snails and other invertebrates,” said Steve Adair, director of operations for GPRO. “It also looks like we will have no shortage of mosquitoes this summer.”

Stephens says with last year’s excellent duck production he expects waterfowl populations have increased. “And if the birds breeding here now experience good production again, as we suspect they will, then populations should be in good shape,” he said.

Prior to last year, conditions on the prairie were much dryer and bird populations dropped. “We’re pleased to see favorable wetland conditions again this year,” Stephens said. “We’re especially pleased about rebounding pintail numbers because they’ve been below population objectives for some time. Good conditions on the prairie should facilitate improved populations.”

One dark cloud in these promising waterfowl conditions is the continued loss of native prairie and Conservation Reserve Program grasslands.

“Waterfowl and many other birds nest in grass. If the grass isn’t there, full wetlands are not enough to keep duck populations stable,” Adair said. “We continue to be very concerned about keeping grass in the PPR, which produces about 70 percent of the continent’s waterfowl when conditions are wet like this year.”

“From a continental perspective, we’ll need production from the Canadian prairies and the boreal forest if the fall flight of ducks is to be maintained,” Stephens said.

Ducks Unlimited is the world’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving North America’s continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 12 million acres, thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever.

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.

Pheasants Forever

Des Moines, Iowa - -(AmmoLand.com)- Today at Pheasants Forever’s National Pheasant Fest, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced plans for a new Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general signup.

Secretary Vilsack also announced increased acreage allotments for three CRP practices significant to wildlife, and then signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Pheasants Forever.

The new general CRP signup slated for later this year will be the first general signup since 2006. It arrives in time to address the 4.4 million acres of CRP expiring on September 30, 2010. An additional 14.2 million acres of CRP are slated to expire between 2011 and 2013.

“Last week at a Pheasants Forever event is southern Minnesota, Secretary Vilsack indicated his intent to keep CRP at, or nearly fully enrolled at, the program’s authorized level of 32 million acres. Today the Secretary outlined just how he intends to accomplish that by utilizing both a general signup and increased allocations for continuous CRP practices targeted at benefitting pheasants, quail, and waterfowl,” reported Dave Nomsen, Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s Vice President of Government Affairs. “Considering the severity of this winter and sizeable number of acres set to expire from CRP this year, the Secretary’s announcement is very welcome news for wildlife and hunters. USDA’s actions today will benefit birds tomorrow with newly allocated CP-33’s, 37’s, and 38’s (SAFE) being available on March 15, 2010.”

During his keynote address in front of 800 attendees, Secretary Vilsack outlined the new acreage caps for three critical CRP practices at or approaching current limits.

• Conservation Practice 33: Known as the “Upland Bird Habitat Buffers” or “Bobwhite Buffers” practice, more than 219,000 of the 250,000 acres allocated in the program have been enrolled nationwide. The newly announced 100,000 acres will be distributed among Midwest and Southern states
• Conservation Practice 37: This “Duck Nesting Habitat Initiative” practice has 87,000 acres currently enrolled in the Prairie Pothole Region states of Montana, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. Today’s newly announced 50,000 acres includes 25,000 acres for North Dakota, and an additional 15,000 acres for South Dakota.
• Conservation Practice 38: Also known as the State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement program (SAFE), this conservation practice focuses 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, but states like Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota were already maxed out or were quickly approaching their acreage caps. An additional 150,000 SAFE acres have been allocated benefitting a wide array of species. 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. Currently, more than 253,000 acres are enrolled in 34 states.

“When President Obama took office, we asked his Administration for a new general CRP signup, new SAFE acres, and new CP 33 acres for quail,” explained Nomsen. “Today, Secretary Vilsack and President Obama delivered us these critical tools needed to put habitat back on the ground, birds in the air, and hunters in the field.”

Secretary Vilsack also signed a first ever MOU between the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency, and Pheasants Forever. The MOU establishes the framework for the three groups to work together in partnership toward common goals; specifically the implementation of Farm Bill conservation programs. The MOU facilitates the free flow of information among the groups and provides a foundation for Pheasants Forever to deliver conservation technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, and landowners.

The MOU will allow Pheasants Forever to facilitate expansion of its current Farm Bill Biologist program, which has proven an effective method for assisting landowners in implementing conservation practices on their property. Pheasants Forever, along with other state wildlife partners, currently employ 50 Farm Bill and Partner Biologists in eight states. To date, Pheasants Forever Farm Bill Biologists have contacted and consulted 30,000 landowners, resulting in the improvement of 1.3 million acres of land for wildlife.

National Pheasant Fest 2010 wraps up on Sunday, February 28th with show hours of 10AM to 5PM. Tickets are available at the Iowa Events Center.

For additional information about Pheasants Forever, visit www.PheasantsForever.org

Deltawaterfowl.org

Bismarck, N.D.—-(AmmoLand.com)- It’s easy to get lost in the alphabet soup of federal conservation programs, but if you’re a duck hunter and care about the future of our heritage, there’s one acronym you simply cannot forget — CRP.

CRP is the Conservation Reserve Program, arguably the most sweepingly beneficial, voluntary private lands conservation initiative ever hatched by the federal government. But the Cadillac of Conservation programs, it seems, is loosing its luster and support. The political class in Washington D.C., among others, is debating its importance and usefulness in this age of bio-fuels and alternative energy.

Translation: The scalpel has been unsheathed and cuts are likely on the horizon.

In fact, in September at a CRP “listening session” in Washington state, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency announced that one of its “policy options” is to cut program acres nationwide from roughly 32 to 24 million. The “listening session” was part of nine public meetings across the country by the USDA to calibrate public opinion on CRP.

Conservation Reserve Program

Buckle up: CRP as we hunters know it is likely going to change, and perhaps radically so.

The aforementioned “policy option” doesn’t, of course, take into consideration what’s actually happening on the ground right now.

Here’s what we know for certain as for this writing: Conservation Reserve Program acres, especially in the all-important duck-producing Prairie Pothole Region, are being lost at an alarmingly high rate—a rate that common sense (to say nothing of scientific modeling) says will cut duck production (not to mention the production of other bird species, game and nongame) in the years ahead. Bottom line: More than 4.2 million CRP acres nationwide have been lost since 2005 (many hundreds of thousands in the PPR, and I’m not even taking into account the modern-day sod-busting of native prairie across the Dakotas), but that’s not the worst of it. In next five years, contracts on 21 million acres are expiring, millions of acres of which slated for the breeding ground states of the Dakotas, Montana and parts of Minnesota.

The last thing CRP needs is more cuts, especially to its national enrollment. Reasonable people can debate if the current program needs to be augmented to better accommodate the daily needs of farmers and ranchers. What isn’t debatable is that CRP is wholly good for wildlife, the environment, farming, local economies and the public at large.

Some CRP detractors have told me, in syntax salty enough to send their blood pressure soaring, that farmers and ranchers simply don’t like CRP and that the program had its day “in the sun” but has now outlived its “usefulness.”

Let me just say, diplomatically, that I beg to differ.

Most CRP detractors (and I’m not talking about farmers here) have a very narrow, vested interest in seeing that CRP and its advocates go away. And one could argue (and many have) that groups like Delta Waterfowl have a very narrow, vested interest in keeping CRP alive and kicking.

The problem for CRP detractors is that the program cuts a wide swathe; its benefits are cross-cultural, borderless and many. As a policy option, CRP has numerous tangible (and intangible) “public” benefits—even for its detractors, whether they admit it or not.

In a delicious (yet sad) bit of irony, the USDA’s own analysis makes the case for keeping CRP a viable, healthy national program:

• CRP reduces the annual cropland soil loss by about 450 million tons—enough to fill approximately 37.5 million dump trucks and improving our nation’s water quality immeasurably.
• CRP has restored more than 2 million acres of wetlands and adjacent buffers—wetlands that clean our water, mitigate flooding, provide habitat for wildlife and fish, and more.
• CRP has protected more than 170 thousand miles of streams—yet another public benefit
• CRP sequesters 48 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.
• CRP produces 15 million pheasants annually.
• CRP produces 2.2 million ducks per year in the Prairie Pothole Region, sending ducks to duck hunters in nearly every U.S. state.

This is to say nothing of the economic benefits that have sprouted up organically from CRP being on the landscape for last 20-plus years. Ask the owner of some mom-and-pop greasy spoon in the hinterlands of North Dakota, or South Dakota, or Montana, or any other state, for that matter, if he or she does better when wildlife populations (ducks, pheasants, deer, etc.) populations are high or low.

The answer is obvious, and can be linked in most cases to the many direct benefits of CRP. In fact, I’ve seen entire underground economies rise up like a Phoenix thanks in good part to CRP (I once profiled a South Dakota woman who cleaned pheasants, a population buoyed by CRP, for outofstate hunters to buy Christmas presents for her family and the needy; she literally cleaned hundreds of birds and knew that smart conservation policy benefited more than just hunters).

What’s more, my reporting over the last decade suggests that the vast majority of farmers support CRP and its guaranteed income stream. They still do, too. Like I said before, many would like to see the program have more flexibility (let’s shelve that important debate for another day; stay tuned), but in sum they appreciate the fact that CRP, in part, inoculates them for the temperamental whims of global commodity markets and keeps them on the land. They’ve also benefited from CRP’s dynamic recreational economy.

Where do Delta members and other hunter-conservationists fit into this debate? In the final installment of Delta Waterfowl’s series called the Vanishing Hunter, my editor, Dan Nelson, and I argued that the continued loss of hunters (waterfowl hunter numbers dropped 27 percent from 2001 to 2006, according to the 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation) means that fewer will have to do more.

We wrote: “Waterfowler numbers are contracting at a time when we desperately need more, not less, support for conservation measures, and a louder, more active voice in Washington. There will be fewer of us in the future, and that will put additional demands on those who remain. Given these demographic realities, the resource needs hunters so engaged they can pick up the slack for those they’ll be asked to replace. Call them “super-hunters”. The waterfowler of tomorrow must be capable of raising the money to fund conservation, defending hunting against its critics, influencing Congress on vital issues and nurturing the next generation of hunters.”

Indeed, we need super-hunters to protect and support the conservation programs that make the most sense for ducks and other wildlife and benefit the most people. CRP is one such program, and its time that hunter-conservationists—super-hunters, if you will—to step up and protect our turf. Contact your elected officials. Write letters to your hometown newspapers. Get engaged. One person can make a difference.

After all, and to dip my ladle into the alphabet soup of conservation-program acronyms, CRP needs a little CPR and TLC so it isn’t KIA.

Tori J. McCormick is associate editor of Delta Waterfowl Magazine. This column appeared in its winter 2009 issue.

About:
Delta Waterfowl provides knowledge, leaders and science-based solutions that efficiently conserve waterfowl and secure the future for waterfowl hunting. Visit: www.deltawaterfowl.org

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission

LINCOLN, Neb. –-(AmmoLand.com)- A survey of hunters revealed 32 percent of the total Nebraska pheasant harvest during the 2008-09 season took place on Conservation Reserve Program-Management Access Program (CRP-MAP) lands.

The recent survey by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission shows the impact CRP-MAP has on hunting opportunities. CRP-MAP gives the public access to private walk-in hunting sites, focusing on grassland and upland game habitats.

CRP-MAP also accounted for 25 percent of the quail harvest and 13 percent of the grouse harvest.

The survey randomly chose 8,000 residents and 2,000 nonresidents who purchased either a Nebraska hunt permit – often referred to as a “small game” permit – or a Nebraska combination hunt/fish permit. There were 2,367 respondents.

Another finding from the survey is the increase in success for dove hunters. Those hunters harvested 4.3 doves per each day spent hunting. That figure has been trending upward since the mid-1990s.

The following are other facts from the survey:

• In 2008, 98,308 people purchased Nebraska hunt permits, a 0.43-percent decrease from 2007. The decrease was fueled by reductions in nonresident permit sales. Resident sales rose 1.5 percent.
• The online purchase of hunt permits rose 6.1 in 2008.
• Nonresidents who purchased hunt permits came from 49 states, the District of Columbia and five Canadian provinces.
• Coloradoans made up the largest group of nonresident permit buyers at 27.5 percent, followed by Iowans (7.5) and Missourians (5.3).
• Estimated small game harvest during the 2008-09 season was: 322,798 pheasants, 320,139 doves, 93,251 quail, 38,144 grouse, 43,970 cottontail rabbits, and 17,996 squirrels.

Quail Forever

Pana, Ill. – -(AmmoLand.com)- On Monday evening, three dozen quail enthusiasts formed the nation’s newest chapter of Quail Forever (QF).

The new Tri-County Chapter of QF plans to focus their efforts on the improvement of quail habitat in Montgomery, Shelby and Christian counties. Chapter leaders also discussed their goals for introducing area youngsters to the outdoors, conservation, and bird hunting.

“If I don’t volunteer my time on behalf of the next generation of quail hunters, who is going to do it for me?” questioned Brad Storm, the new chapter’s president and lifelong bird hunter. “As a chapter of Quail Forever, we have a financial model that puts control of our fundraising dollars in our hands. We also have Quail Forever’s staffing support in the form of grant writing, accounting, and insurance that allows us to focus our efforts on the habitat and youth education missions important to why we’re volunteering in the first place.”

Quail Forever was founded by Pheasants Forever in 2005 to address the nation’s quail population decline. QF applies the successful Pheasants Forever model of empowering local chapters with the responsibility to determine how 100% of their locally raised conservation funds will be spent. As a result, the organization’s 125,000 members and more than 700 chapters see the fruits of their conservation efforts in their own communities, while belonging to a national organization with a broader voice in Washington, D.C. on federal conservation policy.

Storm, a farmer from Lakewood, has already seen Quail Forever’s national efforts first hand.

“I have 300 acres of CRP enrolled on my farm. I pretty much have every CRP practice represented including the bobwhite buffers practice [CP 33], and I know Quail Forever is working hard every day in Washington, D.C. to make sure CRP is viable for me as a farmer and as a bird hunter.”

“I’m very excited about the lofty goals of this new Tri-County Quail Forever Chapter,” explained Tim Caughran, Quail Forever’s regional wildlife biologist for southern Illinois. “This year alone, the chapter plans to hold six hunter safety courses, two wing-shooting clinics and a youth hunt. They are also aggressive in their habitat goals and engaged in conservation policy. As a Shelbyville native, I’m thrilled to call this group of dedicated volunteers my ‘home’ chapter.”

In addition to Storm serving as the chapter’s president, Rick Wallace of Strasburg will serve as Treasurer and Alan Justice of Sherman will serve as the chapter’s Youth & Education Chair.

The Tri-County QF Chapter’s next meeting is scheduled for Monday, January 25th at 7p.m. The meeting will be held at the Eagles Club in Pana, Illinois. The public and media are encouraged to attend. For more information about the meeting and the new chapter, please contact Brad Storm at (217)343-2136 or via email at bkstorm@pwr-net.coop.

To learn more about joining or starting a Quail Forever chapter in Illinois, contact Tim Caughran at (618)467-2586 or via email at tcaughran@quailforever.org.

About:
Pheasants Forever (PF) launched Quail Forever in August of 2005 to address the continuing loss of habitat suitable for quail and the subsequent quail population decline. QF chapters promote local, state, and federal conservation programs that help landowners protect environmentally sensitive acres for quail and other wildlife. They also employ the organization’s unique model of empowering local chapters with 100 percent control of the chapters’ locally-raised funds to complete habitat and youth education projects in the chapters’ own communities.

Since the organization’s inception, over 110 QF chapters have formed in 25 different states. The QF mission is accomplished through habitat improvement, land management, public awareness, education, and conservation advocacy.

For additional information about Quail Forever, please visit www.QuailForever.org

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission

LINCOLN, Neb. –-(AmmoLand.com)- The Open Fields and Waters program began offering hunting and fishing access opportunities this fall, and Nebraskans have responded. Hunters have begun taking advantage of the new program.

“Our first big spike in use was especially noticeable during the November firearm deer season,” said Kirk Nelson, an assistant director with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. “It seemed like there were always people using the sites.”

Enrollment is open to landowners who wish to enroll for 2010. “We expect a lot more interest this year since landowners have had a chance to talk about the merits of the program,” Nelson said. “These kinds of programs always seem to gain traction in the second year.”

Open Fields and Waters pays landowners who allow walk-in hunting and fishing access to their enrolled property. The program complements Conservation Reserve Program-Management Access Program (CRP-MAP). While the focus of CRP-MAP is upland game, Open Fields and Waters targets habitat for deer and turkey hunting and also opens streams, ponds and lakes to public fishing access.

Open Fields and Waters began as a two-year pilot program this fall, with contracts providing access on enrolled acres from Sept. 1 through Aug. 31. There are 37,242 acres available for public hunting and fishing access, including 371 acres of ponds and lakes and 38 miles of stream. Enrolled acres are published in the Nebraska Public Access Atlas, which also includes other public areas, including CRP-MAP. Enrollment in CRP-MAP is also open at this time through Commission district offices.

Landowners interested in the program should contact their nearest Commission district office at their earliest convenience to ensure a place in the program.

South Dakota Fish, Game & Parks

PIERRE, S.D. –-(AmmoLand.com)- Today (Nov. 23) marks the first day for South Dakota landowners in the James River watershed to enroll environmentally sensitive land through a new program that will provide additional incentives to the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

Through a unique partnership between the Game, Fish and Parks Department and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency, landowners have the opportunity to set aside agricultural acres that meet certain criteria into a Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP).

Plans call for the program to set aside 100,000 acres in the James River watershed that will improve water quality, provide flood control, reduce soil erosion, and provide recreation access. The CREP will give agriculture producers another option for managing their land for financial incentives that are up to 40 percent higher than the normal rental rate for CRP land.

The James River watershed is an area of critical importance to South Dakota wildlife, and is an area that can provide a valuable expansion of public access opportunities in the eastern part of the state.

“All lands enrolled in the CREP program will be open to public fishing and hunting,” GFP Secretary Jeff Vonk said. “The James River corridor has been a primary pheasant area for the past 60 years. We have the opportunity to produce valuable nesting cover for pheasants as well as other wildlife that depends on wetlands and grassland.”

“We have seen a reduction of 500,000 acres of CRP in the last five years. CREP will help mitigate those losses in an area where we can maximize benefits to upland nesting game birds like pheasants,” Vonk said. “In addition, certain tracts of expired CRP acres in the project area may qualify for re-enrollment in CREP.”

Sign up for the program begins on Nov. 23. Landowners interested in more information on CREP may contact the GFP District Office in Huron (605/353-7145), their local USDA service center, or a Pheasants Forever Farm Bill biologist (www.sdgfp.info/Wildlife/PrivateLands/PFBiologists.pdf).

“CREP is a win-win-win for agriculture producers, wildlife, and sportsmen,” Vonk said. “This program will provide an economically sound land management option for landowners, thousands of acres of habitat to benefit wildlife, and access to private land for hunters and anglers.”

Contact: Rocco Murano or Matt Grunig, GFP Huron Office (605/353-7145)

More information on the CREP program is available at this link to the Farm Service Agency Web site: www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=copr&topic=cep

Pheasants Forever

Saint Paul, Minn. – -(AmmoLand.com)- Pheasants Forever is expanding its Farm Bill Biologist program in North Dakota with the addition of two new positions created in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and local Soil Conservation Districts. Matthew Olson of Fort Ransom, North Dakota, is the new Farm Bill Biologist based out of Forman and Jeff Potts of Watertown, South Dakota, is the new Farm Bill Biologist based out of Dickinson.

Pheasants Forever’s Farm Bill Biologist program is designed to educate farmers and landowners – through one-on-one consulting – about the benefits of conservation programs (such as the federal Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP), as well as assist those farmers and landowners after programs have been implemented. Pheasants Forever first began employing Farm Bill Biologists in 2003 and now has over 45 Farm Bill Biologists working in seven states – Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Farm Bill Biologists have contacted and consulted over 28,000 landowners, resulting in the improvement of over 1.3 million acres of land for wildlife.

“These positions come at an especially critical juncture for North Dakota, where nearly 775,000 acres have expired from the wildlife-friendly CRP in the past five years and another 1.8 million acres are slated to expire in the next five years,” said Jim Inglis, Pheasants Forever’s Farm Bill Biologist Coordinator, “With continuous CRP practices and other conservation programs, landowners have numerous conservation options. The challenge has always been informing them, and these Farm Bill Biologists meet that challenge head on.”

Matthew Olson
A native of Fort Ransom, North Dakota, Olson joins Pheasants Forever after four years with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. An avid outdoorsman, Olson has an excellent knowledge of the Forman and surrounding area. Olson earned his B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Management from North Dakota State University. He is based out of the Wild Rice Soil Conservation District Office in Forman and can be contacted at (701) 724-3247 or via email at molson@pheasantsforever.org.

Jeff Potts
Potts joins Pheasants Forever after earning his B.S. in Wildlife Fisheries and Science from South Dakota State University. He already has extensive experience in the natural resource field, having worked previously with the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks as a wildlife technician and a land/habitat intern. Potts is based out of the NRCS office in Dickinson and can be contacted at (701) 225-3811 x118 or via email at jpotts@pheasantsforever.org.

Pheasants Forever also has a Farm Bill Biologist position in Jamestown, North Dakota. Steve Stensgard can be contacted at the Jamestown NRCS office (701)252-2521 ext. 129 or via email at SStensgard@pheasantsforever.org. For more information on Pheasants Forever’s Farm Bill Biologist program, contact Jim Inglis, Pheasants Forever’s Farm Bill Biologist Coordinator, at (419) 569-1096 or via email at jinglis@pheasantsforever.org.

About:
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are non-profit conservation organizations dedicated to the protection and enhancement of pheasant, quail, and other wildlife populations in North America through habitat improvement, land management, public awareness, and education. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever has 125,000 members in 700 local chapters across the continent.

For additional information please visit www.PheasantsForever.org and www.QuailForever.org

Pheasants Forever

Saint Paul, Minn. --(AmmoLand.com)- Recently, high ranking officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture spoke at public forums in support of the Conservation Reserve Program’s (CRP) wildlife benefits and the need to protect the program’s legacy.

While the verbal support for CRP may signal that hunter’s messages are being heard within the halls of USDA, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever says now is not the time to rest easy.

Just last month, USDA announced that one of their policy options under consideration is to drop CRP enrollment to 24 million acres nationwide.

On Monday, October 5th, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack joined South Dakota Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin in Bath, South Dakota for a Rural Issues Forum. At that event, the Secretary commented on the need for CRP to be at the program’s 32 million acre cap. He also suggested it was time for a reallocation of available acres to meet the demands of CRP practices like the very popular new State Acres For wildlife Enhancement (Conservation Practice 38), which reached its 50,000-acreage allotment in South Dakota many months ago.

On Wednesday, October 7th, Farm Service Agency Administrator Jonathan Coppess testified before the U.S. House Agriculture Sub-Committee during a hearing on conservation programs. Pheasants Forever’s Vice President of Government Affairs Dave Nomsen was in attendance for that hearing.

“Administrator Coppess reiterated Secretary Vilsack’s comments from South Dakota that USDA intends to keep CRP at, or nearly fully-subscribed at, 32 million acres. He also noted that SAFE and CREP sign-ups may be valuable tools toward that goal,” reported Nomsen. “I was also pleased to hear that a general CRP sign-up may be available next year. With 3 million acres expiring on September 30th of this year and another 5 million acres expiring next year, it was welcome news in support of conservationist’s favorite program.”

The USDA’s Farm Service Agency has asked the public for comments on CRP. That comment period is quickly coming to a close next Monday, October 19th. If you haven’t participated in this important process as yet, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have some simple suggestions for what to communicate by sending an email to CRPcomments@tecinc.com.

• Request USDA implement CRP at its maximum acreage of 32 million acres, and that USDA request additional authority for an expanded CRP of at least 40 million acres from Congress
• Call for a new CRP General Signup
• Call for new authority for Continuous CRP programs such as CRP SAFE and CRP Upland Bird Habitat Buffers
• Ask that all Continuous CRP including CRP SAFE and CRP Upland Bird Habitat Buffers, be made available to all expiring contract holders

Pheasants Forever

Washington, DC --(AmmoLand.com)- The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that one of their policy options under consideration is to drop Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) enrollment to 24 million acres nationwide.

In Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s view, this is completely unacceptable and we urge all of our members and supporters to take immediate action by contacting the USDA in opposition of this proposal.

Additionally, Pheasants Forever considers the current 32 million acre CRP cap a short term goal, and recommends the USDA request Congressional authority to expand the program to a minimum of 40 million acres.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) has asked the public for comments on the Conservation Reserve Program. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have some simple suggestions for what to communicate during the public comment period:

• Request USDA implement CRP at its maximum acreage of 32 million acres, and that
• USDA request additional authority for an expanded CRP of at least 40 million acres from Congress.
• Call for a new CRP General Signup.
• Call for new authority for Continuous CRP programs such as CRP SAFE and CRP Upland Bird Habitat Buffers.
• Ask that all Continuous CRP including CRP SAFE and CRP Upland Bird Habitat Buffers, be made available to all expiring contract holders.
• Call on USDA to implement a CRP “Open Fields” Public Access program immediately.
• Encourage USDA to enroll expired CRP into the Grasslands Reserve Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program.

Public Comments on CRP Due by October 19, 2009

• Email comments to CRPcomments@tecinc.com
• Submit comments online at the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov
• Mail comments to: CRP SEIS, c/o TEC Inc., 8 San Jose Dr., Suite 3-B, Newport News, VA 23606
• Fax comments to: (757) 594-1469

Help continue CRP’s wildlife habitat and environmental legacy by voicing your support of the program this week.

CRP Benefits

• CRP produces an estimated 13.5 million pheasants annually.
• CRP in the Prairie Pothole Region produces 2 million ducks per year.
• CRP boosts populations of bobwhite quail, prairie grouse and non-game grassland birds.
• CRP reduces the amount of sediment released into the environment by 200 million tons.
• CRP reduces sheet, rill and wind erosion.
• CRP sequesters carbon, helping stop more than 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the environment.

About:
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are non-profit conservation organizations dedicated to the protection and enhancement of pheasant, quail, and other wildlife populations in North America through habitat improvement, land management, public awareness, and education. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 125,000 members in 750 local chapters across the continent.

Conservation Reserve Program

Washington, DC --(AmmoLand.com)-We have reached the most critical juncture in the history of the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), undoubtedly the most successful conservation program in modern times. Since 2005, over 4.2 million acres have expired, and over the next five years, another 21 million more acres are slated to expire. That makes participating in the public comment period and public meetings about CRP in September and October the most significant action you can take as a Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever supporter this autumn.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) has asked the public for comments on the Conservation Reserve Program and scheduled nine public meetings from September 15 through October 8 to solicit comments on the program. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have identified a platform of three action items to communicate during the public comment period and at the public meetings.

Immediate Need for a New CRP General Signup
Currently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has no plans for a new CRP general signup to re-enroll or replace expiring acres.

“The stated intent of this public comment period is to find ways to make the Conservation Reserve Program more effective for producers, and increase the environmental and wildlife benefits of the program,” said Dave Nomsen, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s Vice President of Government Affairs, “Those goals are unachievable without a new CRP general signup.”

1 Million SAFE Acres
Conservation Practice 38, better known as the State Acres For wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) program, allows states to cater CRP to specifically address key wildlife and habitat needs within a state. Currently, there are over 200,000 acres enrolled in SAFE nationally, and the USDA has established a goal of 500,000 acres for the program. But demand for SAFE acres in states such as South Dakota, Minnesota, and Nebraska has been so strong that they are at or near their initial SAFE acreage guideline. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are pushing for an additional 500,000 acres nationwide for the program based upon strong interest and demand for SAFE in multiple states.

“A 1-million-acre SAFE program is the progressive step needed to maintain the strength of CRP and create critical habitat for wildlife,” Nomsen said.

Double Bobwhite Quail Buffers Program
Conservation Practice 33, or “Bobwhite Buffers,” establishes the edge habitat along fields, streams and woods that bobwhite quail need. Currently, there are over 200,000 acres enrolled nationally, and USDA has established a goal of 250,000 acres for the program.

“This program has been a resounding success and has proven to increase bobwhite quail populations where acres exist. But to realistically push the bobwhite beyond its current near-threatened status, the USDA needs to allocate additional acres for this important quail program,” added Nomsen.

Public Comments on CRP Due by October 19, 2009

• Email comments to CRPcomments@tecinc.com
• Submit comments online at the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov
• Mail comments to: CRP SEIS, c/o TEC Inc., 8 San Jose Dr., Suite 3-B, Newport News, VA 23606
• Fax comments to: (757) 594-1469

DON’T LET THE sun set on the Conservation Reserve Program! Make your voice heard at public meetings or submit comments online!

CRP Public Meeting Schedule
Sept. 15, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Spokane, Wash.
Hilton Garden Inn

Sept. 17, from 5 – 7 p.m.
Great Falls, Mont.
Hampton Inn

Sept. 21, from 5 – 7 p.m.
Moorhead, Minn.
AmericInn Lodge and Suites

Sept. 23, from 5 – 7 p.m.
Manhattan, Kan.
Clarion Hotel

Sept. 25, from 5 – 7 p.m.
Springfield, Ill.
Hilton Garden Inn

Sept. 29, from 5 – 7 p.m.
Oklahoma City, Okla.
Marriott Hotel

Oct. 1, from 5 – 7 p.m.
Clovis, NM
La Quinta Inn and Suites

Oct. 6, from 5 – 7 p.m.
Albany, Ga.
Hilton Garden Inn

Oct. 8, from 5 – 7 p.m.
Harrisburg, Pa.
Courtyard by Marriott

About Pheasants Forever
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are non-profit conservation organizations dedicated to the protection and enhancement of pheasant, quail, and other wildlife populations in North America through habitat improvement, land management, public awareness, and education. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 125,000 members in 750 local chapters across the continent.

For additional information about Pheasants Forever, please visit www.PheasantsForever.org

Pheasants Forever

Saint Paul, Minn. – -(AmmoLand.com)-

WHAT:
For the fifth year out of the last six, Minnesota pheasant hunters in 2008 harvested more than a half million roosters.

Prior to 2003, Minnesota hunters had bagged more than 500,000 birds during just two seasons since 1964 (1981 & 1991).

While the 2008 harvest fell well below the 40-year record set in 2007 with a 655,000 bird harvest, hunter participation and success during the 2008 season remained high.

Season Length (Days) 65

Year /  Pheasant Harvest / Number of Hunters

• 2003 511,000  105,000
• 2004 420,000 77 104,000
• 2005 586,000 79 111,000
• 2006 588,000 80 119,000
• 2007 655,000 81 118,000
• 2008 522,000 86 107,000

WHY:
Pheasants in Minnesota have enjoyed milder winters and spring conditions advantageous to reproduction in recent years. Those favorable weather conditions, coupled with good habitat on the landscape, including nearly 1.7 million acres of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands in Minnesota, have created the successful pheasant seasons we’ve enjoyed in the state since 2003. Unfortunately, danger is on the horizon with massive CRP acres set to expire over the next few years. Last year, 107,000 acres of CRP contracts expired in Minnesota, and 65,000 more acres will expire this year. In fact, 621,000 acres of CRP are set to expire in Minnesota between 2010 and 2013. Pheasants Forever is diligently working to re-enroll, replace, and improve those acres of habitat. The new State Acres For wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) practice of CRP is one successful example.

WHO:
Consider an interview with the following Pheasants Forever officials in response to today’s Minnesota DNR announcement:

• Matt Holland, Pheasants Forever Senior Field Coordinator, (320)354-4377
• Eran Sandquist, Pheasants Forever Regional Wildlife Biologist for western & central Minnesota, (763)242-1273
• Scott Roemhildt, Pheasants Forever Regional Field Representative for southern Minnesota, (507)327-9785

About Pheasants Forever
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are non-profit conservation organizations dedicated to the protection and enhancement of pheasant, quail, and other wildlife populations in North America through habitat improvement, land management, public awareness, and education. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 125,000 members in 750 local chapters across the continent.

For additional information about Pheasants Forever, please visit www.PheasantsForever.org

Pheasants Forever

Saint Paul, Minn. – -(AmmoLand.com)- With over 30,000 acres enrolled in the program in the past three months, more than 125,000 acres have already been enrolled in federal Conservation Practice 38 this year to date. The wildlife-oriented practice, better known as the State Acres For wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) program, currently has 203,874 acres enrolled nationally.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has established a goal of 500,000 acres for SAFE, which is part of the larger federal Continuous Conservation Reserve Program (CCRP). Announced in 2007, SAFE is a wildlife-specific conservation practice that has allowed states to cater policies specific to their wildlife and habitat. For example, SAFE projects in Midwestern states such as Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and South Dakota benefit pheasants and other upland birds, while the SAFE project in Washington targets Roosevelt elk.

Demand for SAFE in some sates, including South Dakota (50,004 acres), Minnesota (22,476 acres), and Nebraska (20,947 acres) has been so strong that those states are at or near their initial SAFE acreage allotment. “For SAFE to continue to be the stepping stone for the next generation of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), we need to give serious consideration to reallocating acres to continue to meet the demand that exists in certain states,” said Dave Nomsen, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s vice president of government affairs.

Last year, as part of a contract signing ceremony in South Dakota for the first SAFE contract in the nation, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever requested an additional 500,000 acres nationwide for the program based on strong interest and demand for SAFE in multiple states.

“The immediate success has not waned, as SAFE has eclipsed 200,000 acres nationwide in less than two years of existence. We’re more adamant than ever that an additional 500,000-acre allotment to the SAFE program is necessary going forward,” Nomsen said, “A 1-million-acre SAFE program is the progressive step needed to maintain the strength of CRP and create critical habitat for wildlife.”

Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have been instrumental in both the development and delivery of the SAFE program. The initial SAFE projects were announced at the organization’s National Pheasant Fest 2008, and through its Farm Bill Biologist program, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have worked to educate farmers and landowners about the benefits of conservation programs, including SAFE, and then assist those farmers and landowners after programs have been implemented.

More About SAFE
The SAFE program has added flexibility, specialization and a state specific focus to the already existing CRP practices. This is done by concentrating on acres located on the most environmentally sensitive land and then establishing the highest priority conservation practices on these generally smaller tracts. SAFE has also been highly effective in targeting the restoration of habitat critical for wildlife species that are threatened, endangered, have suffered significant population declines and/or are considered to be socially or economically valuable. These species include, but are not limited to, pheasants, bobwhite quail, American black bears, Roosevelt elk, bald eagles, salmon, song birds and pollinators.

How to Enroll in SAFE
SAFE projects are available through USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) service centers as part of the ongoing continuous sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program. For additional information and application assistance regarding SAFE, visit your county FSA office or http://www.fsa.usda.gov; or contact the Pheasants Forever/Quail Forever Farm Bill Biologist in your area.

About Pheasants Forever
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are non-profit conservation organizations dedicated to the protection and enhancement of pheasant, quail, and other wildlife populations in North America through habitat improvement, land management, public awareness, and education. PF/QF has more than 125,000 members in 750 local chapters across the continent.

For additional information please visit www.PheasantsForever.org and www.QuailForever.org