Following the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) 49
th general sign-up in North Dakota, colossal landowner demand for CRP has been met with a bleak 6 percent acceptance rate – only 69 offers out of 1,094 applications were accepted for 5,944 total acres out of 74,059 acres offered. With nearly 375,000 acres of additional CRP contracts set to expire by October of 2017 and available acres for other voluntary conservation program options nearly exhausted, wildlife habitat and water quality are bracing for major setbacks in North Dakota without intervention.
The CRP general sign-up completed at the end of February generated more than 1.8 million acres in offers nationwide, but was only able to accept 23 percent of the 26,000 landowner applications because of the program’s 24 million-acre cap. As a result, USDA Secretary Vilsack has commented on the need for a larger CRP cap to meet landowner demand and provide countless natural resource benefits. In North Dakota specifically, CRP acres have declined steadily since 2007 when 3.3 million acres enrolled in the program produced the state’s highest modern pheasant population and most useful environmental benefits in recent memory – more than double the amount of the state's current enrollment of 1.53 million acres.
“A meager 6 percent acceptance rate for the CRP general sign-up in North Dakota has landowners questioning the future,” stated Rachel Bush, state coordinator for Pheasants Forever in North Dakota. “We're quickly exhausting allocated acres for our most popular conservation practices in North Dakota, and my concern is that the 24 million-acre cap will restrict CRP enrollments for a state with an obvious high demand.”
CRP is a voluntary program designed to help farmers, ranchers and landowners protect their environmentally sensitive land. Eligible landowners receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource conserving covers on eligible farmland throughout the duration of 10 to 15 year contracts. “We need swift action to support North Dakota producers and their concern for wildlife habitat, water quality, and soil health,” added Bush.
Pheasants Forever is urging North Dakota residents to voice their opinion to the state’s elected officials for a stronger CRP presence that supports rural farming communities and robust wildlife populations:
| Senator John Hoeven |
Congressman Kevin Cramer |
Senator Heidi Heitkamp |
| 338 Russell Senate Office Bldg. |
1032 Longworth House Bldg. |
502 Hart Senate Office Bldg. |
| Washington, DC 20510 |
Washington, DC 20515 |
Washington, DC 20510 |
| Phone: (202) 224-2551 |
Phone: (202) 225-2611 |
Phone: (202) 224-2043 |
| Fax: (202) 224-7999 |
Fax: (202) 226-0893 |
Fax: (202) 224-7776 |
| Email Senator Hoeven |
Email Congressman Cramer |
Email Senator Heitkamp |
For more information about Pheasants Forever in North Dakota or questions regarding the recent CRP general sign-up, contact Rachel Bush at (701) 403-4853 or
email.
About Pheasants Forever
Pheasants Forever, including its quail conservation division, Quail Forever, is the nation's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to upland habitat conservation. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 149,000 members and 700 local chapters across the United States and Canada. Chapters are empowered to determine how 100 percent of their locally raised conservation funds are spent; the only national conservation organization that operates through this truly grassroots structure. Since creation in 1982, Pheasants Forever has spent $634 million on 502,000 habitat projects benefiting 14.1 million acres nationwide.
Media Contact
Jared Wiklund
(651) 209-4953
jwiklund@pheasantsforever.org