May 22, 2002

Attn. Upper Mississippi Basin Stakeholders:

Per the notices below, just one week remains (May 30) of a comment period opportunity the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is providing for its programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Conservation Reserve Program(CRP), Emergency Conservation Program (ECP), Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), and the new Grassland Reserve Program (GRP).

Here is the Federal Register Notice of Intent referenced below with full detail.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2002_register&docid=02-10165-filed

Also, please note that the UMBSN server (http://www.umbsn.org/) will be down this Friday afternoon and early evening (May 24) for university power conversion work.

Thanks,
John Gabbert
UMBSN

-----Original Message-----

From: Gene Whitaker, http://fb-net.org [mailto:GWhitaker@fb-net.org]
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 11:27 AM
To: Farm Bill Network (E-mail)

Subject: EIS for CRP & CREP & GRP - due date

There has been some confusion recently regarding the due date for comments for the EIS the Farm Service Agency is preparing for CRP and CREP. The cut-off date remains May 30 as show below in the message from James Fortner.

This is an real chance for everyone to provide their suggestions to FSA forimproving the operation of CRP and CREP. You will also see in message from James that suggestions for implementation of the Grassland Reserve Program (GRP) are also being asked for.

Gene

-----Original Message-----

From: James Fortner [mailto:James_Fortner@wdc.usda.gov]
Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2002 3:52 PM
To: GWhitaker@fb-net.org
Subject: Re: 2002 Farm Bill Online

Gene,

I wanted to clarify the issue of the cut-off date for comments received in connection with the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement being prepared by the Farm Service Agency and CCC for the Conservation Reserve Program, Emergency Conservation Program, and the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program.

FSA/CCC will be receiving comments through May 30, 2002, which was the date published in the Notice of Intent in the Federal Register on April 24, 2002. FSA/CCC will consider comments submitted after this date to the extent possible.

As of today, no decision has been made on the responsible agency for implementation of the Grassland Reserve Program.  However, comments are being received during the comment period on this new Farm Bill program.

Thanks,
James

James P. Fortner
Environmental Compliance Manager
Farm Service Agency, USDA
Room 6962
14th and Independence Ave, SW
jfortner@wdc.fsa.usda.gov
Washington, DC  20250
Phone: (202) 720-5533
Fax:  (202) 720-4619