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Sportsmen Celebrate Conservation Of 4.3 Million Acres via The CRP
New CRP acres will enhance private-lands fish and wildlife habitat important to sportsmen.

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

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Conservation Reserve Program Sign-Up Benefits Producers, Protects Sensitive Habitat

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).

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