Farm
bill provides key wildlife habitat improvements
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Star Tribune |
Published Oct 14 2001
Just how important to hunters, anglers and other outdoor enthusiasts is the
federal farm bill being hashed out in Congress?
Consider this: For the past 50 years, the state has slowly accumulated 1.1
million acres of wildlife management areas -- often islands of wildlife habitat
amidst seas of cultivated crops or developed lands. The public areas are
heavily used by hunters.
But with the 1985 farm bill, the state saw 1.9 million acres of grasslands
created under the new Conservation Reserve Program, which paid farmers to idle
marginal lands.
"We nearly doubled the acreage for wildlife with one stroke of the
pen," said Kurt Haroldson, a Department of Natural Resources
wildlife researcher. The grasslands were a windfall for wildlife, including
ducks and pheasants.
"That's why conservationists and hunters should be interested in the
farm bill, because it impacts the landscape more than anything else,"
Haroldson said.
While the bill obviously is critical to farmers, its importance to wildlife,
the environment and outdoor enthusiasts also can't be overemphasized.
Said Wayne Edgerton, the DNR's agricultural policy director:
"Without a doubt, it's the most important federal bill relating to
conservation. It impacts million of acres of private land across the
nation."
And the bill is in play now.
After months of debate, the House passed a 10-year, $170 billion farm bill
on Oct. 5. It increases conservation spending, expands several conservation
programs, including CRP, and creates new ones. Conservation groups are pleased
that, during these tough economic times, conservation needs were addressed.
But some wish it had gone farther.
The House rejected an amendment supported by many conservation groups that
would have shifted $1.9 billion a year from crop subsidies to conservation
programs. The highly controversial move would have been a major shift in farm
policy.
Now attention turns to the Senate, which could begin discussions on its own
bill as early as this week. The Senate reportedly is more receptive to
strengthening conservation measures. And the Bush administration, which opposed
the House bill and urged that action be deferred, signaled that it, too,
supports more conservation.
The final outcome could have a long-lasting impact on the nation's wildlife.
Here are the major conservation measures in the House bill, followed by
those in the rejected House amendment:
· CRP would be expanded from the current cap
of 36.4 million acres to 39.2 million. The amendment called for 45 million
acres.
· The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), which
restores wetlands and removes marginal lands from production, would increase by
150,000 acres per year for 10 years. The amendment would have raised the number
to 250,000 acres per year. There currently are about 1 million acres enrolled,
the maximum now allowed.
· The Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program
(WHIP), which pays landowners to improve fish and wildlife habitat on their
lands, initially would receive $25 million annually, an amount that would
gradually increase to $50 million a year; this year the program got $12.5
million. The amendment would have started funding at $200 million yearly, then
increased it to as much as $500 million annually.
· The Grassland Reserve Program (GRP), a new
program to protect existing grasslands, would accept 2 million acres over 10
years; the amendment called for 3 million acres.
The House bill also contains $10.8 billion for the Environmental Quality
Incentives Program (EQIP), an environmental soil and water quality program.
Keith Williams, a spokesman for House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry
Combest, R-Texas, said the conservation amendment would have decimated the
farm program.
"Conservation is great, and we've put a lot of money into it, but you
have to have a balance," he said.
The DNR's Edgerton, however, is among those who say it's time for a new
approach to farm policy.
"The House missed a golden opportunity," he said. Under the CRP
provisions in the House bill, Minnesota likely will see few new acres enrolled,
Edgerton said.
The amount of CRP acres in Minnesota's pheasant range has declined from
about 1.1 million to about 780,000 due to tightened program requirements.
Haroldson said he hopes that a new farm bill calling for 45 million acres of
CRP would substantially increase Minnesota's share.
Demand by farmers for many of the conservation programs has exceeded the
dollars necessary to enroll them, said Scott Sutherland of Ducks
Unlimited's Washington, D.C., office. Ducks Unlimited are among the
conservation groups that pushed for higher funding.
Pheasants Forever had supported the higher funding, but then switched
positions and supported the House bill when Combest indicated he would pull the
entire bill if the conservation amendment passed.
"It's not everything we wanted, but it's a starting point," said Dave
Nomsen, vice president of governmental affairs for the Minnesota-based
organization.
Zumbro
bass regulations The DNR is considering expanding the current
two-mile catch-and-release regulation for smallmouth bass on the Zumbro River
to include an additional 10-mile stretch. The new zone would be from the
Wabasha County Rd. 7 bridge to Zumbro Falls, Minn.
The DNR will hold two public meetings on the proposal. The first is 7 p.m.
Nov. 14 at the Ponderosa Supper Club in Mazeppa, Minn. The agency also will
answer questions on the proposal from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Nov. 27 at the DNR
fisheries central office at 500 Lafayette Rd. in St. Paul. Written comments
also can be sent by Nov. 30 to the Lake City DNR fisheries office at 1801 S.
Oak St., Lake City, MN 55041 or by e-mail to Kevin.Stauffer@dnr.state.mn.us
Did
you know?
· A note for waterfowl hunters: shooting ends
at sunset, not a half-hour after sunset as it does for deer hunting.
· South Dakota's pheasant season opens Saturday amid expectations that the birds won't be as abundant as they have been in recent years, but the hunting still likely will be among the best in the nation. A reminder for Minnesota hunters heading there: you must use nontoxic shot for pheasants and other small game when hunting most public lands, except leased walk-in areas.