How many times have I heard people ask what they could do to help out wildlife? Let me count the times. From my perspective we have here an excellent chance to put our concerns into action.
Most readers are probably unfamiliar with CREP (Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, pronounced: krep). It is a USDA program which enhances the successful CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) which has run in the U.S. since 1985. In Wisconsin 600,000 acres have been taken out of agriculture production to decrease erosion, enhance water quality, and establish wildlife habitat in the 13 years since its inception. The farmer agrees to take land out of production for a period of 10 or 15 years and is paid $62/Acre/year to do so. At the end of that period the farmer can sell the land, put it back into production--basically whatever they want to do. So there are limits to the program in that regard.
And that is where the CREP program enters into the picture. There are four components: 1) CREP is a joint program between the federal and state governments ($= 80% Fed.; 20% State) that is COMMUNITY BASED (more on this later) 2) This program is TARGETED to address the highest environmental priorities of the State and Nation 3) CREP is designed to address AGRICULTURAL-RELATED issues and 4) CREP is specifically intended to address water quality, soil erosion, and WILDLIFE HABITAT issues.
Wisconsin will receive several hundred million dollars of federal money (state must pick up 20% of costs) to put 100,000 ACRES into a "land bank". A major difference is that the WDNR is proposing to follow the lead of the state of Illinois where 80% of the land has been put into VOLUNTARY PERMANENT EASEMENTS, an option not available in the previous CRP programs.
The WDNR has TARGETED 8 geographical areas for the CREP funds:
(1) Riparian Buffer & Wetland Projects: 70,000 acres (A. Greater/Lower Chippewa: 23,000 acres; B. Grant-Platte-Sugar-Pecatonica: 16,500 acres; C. Rock River: 13,500 acres; D. Lower Wolf & Fox Rivers: 8,600 acres; E. Lakeshore of Ozaukee and Milwaukee Counties: 8,400 acres).
(2) Grassland Projects: 30,000 acres (A. Western Prairie Habitat Restoration Area: 8,000 acres; B. Central Wisconsin Prairie Chicken: 8,000 acres C. Blue Mounds/Thomson Prairie: 5,000 acres; Glacial Habitat Restoration Area: 9,000 acres.
To make this program work it MUST INVOLVE COMMUNITY-BASED CONSERVATION GROUPS! It is essential to get volunteers to HELP ENROLL FARMERS in this program. Furthermore, they said that they hoped landtrusts around the state would ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE VOLUNTARY PERMANENT EASEMENTS at the end of the enrollment program. This sent up a flag to me that those of us who know our respective counties and birding habitats have a rare opportunity to make an impact on establishing wildlife habitat.
by Kent D. Hall, Ph.D.
