Hunters across the Midwest have had a taste of the good old days during the past 25 years.
Habitat on millions of acres of farmland by the voluntary federal Conservation Reserve Program — which pays farmers to take marginal land out of production and return it to grassland — created ring-necked pheasants, quail, ducks, deer and wild turkeys.
Despite tough weather from drought in Kansas to hard winters in the Dakotas this year, there are still millions of ringnecks to be flushed from the grasslands, fence rows and field edges in pheasant country this fall thanks to landowners who enrolled acres in the Conservation Reserve Program years ago.
But that habitat is under attack as Congress debates reductions in federal spending to balance the nation's budget. The integrity of CRP and its quarter-century history of growing rural economies, creating wildlife and protecting water is the No. 1 concern of habitat organizations such as Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited and the Nebraska Wildlife Federation.
"We're trying to celebrate what historically has been the U.S. Agriculture Department's most successful conservation program while it's still here,'' said Pheasant Forever's lobbyist Dave Nomsen of Garfield, Minn. "But we've got a great story to tell, and we're not going to give up without a heck of a fight.''
The firing line is not in the hunting fields across America but in Washington, D.C.
Congress is debating reductions in federal spending to balance the nation's budget. Conservation and wildlife programs are a sliver of the federal budget, but early indications suggest conservation is taking it on the chin in budget talks.
Conservation organizations say they should share in the nation's belt-tightening, but not bear the brunt of congressional budget cuts.
"It's important these cuts be made with a clear view of today and tomorrow's ledger,'' said Howard Vincent, president of Pheasants Forever.
The Conservation Reserve Program is the single biggest source of wildlife habitat across America's prairies, but it's not an issue for hunters alone, Vincent said.
For example:
• Local economies: Millions of hunters pump dollars in cafes, gas stations and hotels throughout the fall. The hunting industry creates tens of thousands of jobs across America. In South Dakota alone, CRP is the foundation of a $250 million dollar annual pheasant-hunting industry.
• Wildlife: Pheasant numbers follow the path of CRP acres as closely as any species of wildlife. There are 5 million fewer CRP acres on the landscape this year than four years ago. During the next two years, federal contracts on 14 million acres of CRP habitat expire. Pheasant numbers have dropped by 50 percent or more across much of the pheasant range in recent years.
• Water quality: CRP reduces nitrogen and phosphorous runoff into waterways, and buffers pesticides and herbicides from entering streams and rivers.
• Flood prevention: CRP acres hold water during times of spring melts and heavy rains.
• Soil erosion: Since 1986, CRP has stopped more than 8 billion tons of soils from eroding off the land.
Nebraska has about 1 million acres of land enrolled in CRP. Iowa has about 1.6 million acres.
Vincent has asked pheasant hunters and others to fire an email to their U.S. senators and representatives in support of CRP — before they fire a shot in the field this month.
Nomsen said that all federal spending will be hammered as the nation addresses its debt.
"The challenge we've got is to hang on to some of the very successful programs so that at some point in time we can come back and build upon them once again,'' he said. "There's an awful lot at stake.''
Contact the writer:
402-444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com
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