An unparalleled opportunity to make a dramatic difference in solving environmental problems is coming to Wisconsin.  The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) is a state-federal conservation partnership program targeted to address  specific state and nationally significant water quality, soil erosion  and wildlife habitat issues related to agricultural use.

The program uses financial incentives to encourage farmers to voluntarily enroll  in contracts of 10 to 15 years, or more, to remove lands from  production.  USDA will continue to pay for 15-year Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts and for 50% of the cost of conservation practices.  Since 1986, CRP pays annually to retire erodible farmland, but is not a targeted program.  Under CREP, USDA will pay incentive bonuses to farmers who also enroll in  CREP (with more dollars for longer contracts).  The total amount USDA could contribute to Wisconsin may be as much as $100  million.

DNR is the lead agency in an interagency team of state and federal agencies working to develop a CREP proposal for  Wisconsin.  This task force is conducting listening sessions in December in the areas that would be affected by the CREP.  After the listening sessions are completed, the task force will draft  a proposal, hold a last meeting to discuss it, and submit it to the governor’s office for approval as early as February 1999.  If  approved, the plan will then be submitted to the USDA.

It is extremely important to attend these meetings.  Strong support is necessary to retain the grassland bird habitat restoration proposal and ensure that state funds can be used to obtain voluntary permanent conservation easements.  Stewardship funds, which are a likely source of state matching dollars, should support only permanent conservation easements.

The proposed Wisconsin CREP would target approximately 100,000 acres of environmentally sensitive agricultural lands for enrollment that would (1) improve water quality, reduce flooding, and restore wildlife habitat by restoring and conserving 70,000  acres of riparian buffers and wetlands; and (2) restore and conserve 30,000 acres of grassland bird habitat.

If CREP is approved, Wisconsin would pay 20% of the contract  costs.  Under the proposed plan, Wisconsin would pay farmers a one-time up-front payment if the contract was extended to 35  years.  Wisconsin would also offer a more substantial one-time up- front payment if farmers choose voluntary permanent conservation easements.  The state may also help farmers pay for conservation practices.  Farmers would be free to choose 15 year, 35 year or permanent easements.

Quick Facts

Only 0.5% of Wisconsin’s native grassland habitat  remains, and, due to changes in agricultural practices, many grassland bird populations have plummeted in the last 30 years.

16 species of grassland birds have been designated of special concern (including the sharp-tailed grouse and  the bobolink), and the greater prairie chicken is threatened in Wisconsin.

Restoration of habitat for threatened and endangered species is as valid a goal under the USDA/CREP guidelines as water quality enhancement or prevention of soil erosion.

Extending the CREP to grassland bird habitat  restoration would give farmers who never qualified for CRP (for example because their land was too  flat) is an affordable way to restore grasslands.

The grassland bird habitat restoration program would help complete state and federal grassland habitat restoration areas.

The grassland bird habitat restoration program would bring valuable tourism and birder dollars into these areas.
 

Conservation Easements Should be Permanent

Permanent conservation easements ensure that  habitat and/or water quality values provided by restored lands continue; the need for these services does not disappear with the end of the CRP contract.

The taxpayers are better served by permanent conservation easements (enrolling the same land into CRP contracts over and over again can result in the  government ultimately paying farmers multiples above the fair market value of the property).

Permanent conservation easements provide many  farmers with an affordable way to idle difficult-to-farm riparian areas and to restore habitat values.

Permanent conservation easements may provide an alternative to imposing regulations on farmers to address polluted agricultural run-off.
 

Importance of Wide Buffers and Wetland Restoration

Wide riparian buffers can serve to filter and slow polluted run-off, decrease crop loss due to flooding, and serve as wildlife corridors and staging areas for waterfowl.

Wetlands filter polluted run-off, slow floodwaters and gradually release them, and provide habitat for the majority of endangered species.

Wetland restoration should play as important a role as the restoration of riparian buffers.

The Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) should not be the sole source of funding to restore and conserve wetlands.

WRP has a ceiling and the money may run out while there is still work to do.

WRP requirements may be more restrictive than CREP requirements.
 

Listening Sessions:

Grant-Platte-Sugar-Pecatonica and Blue Mounds/Thomson Prairie
December 7, 1:00-3:30   Iowa County, University of Wisconsin Extension Office, Conference Room, Lower Level, Courthouse, Dodgeville.

Rock River and Glacial HRA
December 8, 1:00-3:00   Fair View Inn, Hwy 18, Jefferson.

Lower Wolf & Fox Rivers and Glacial HRA
December 11, 1:00-3:30   Winnebago County, University of Wisconsin-Extension Office, 625 E. Cty. Rd. Y, Oshkosh.

Central Wisconsin Prairie Chicken Area
December 15, 1:00-3:00   Marshfield Agricultural Research Station, 8396  Yellowstone Drive, Marshfield.

Lake Shore
December 16,  9:00-12:00 noon  Sheboygan Agricultural Services Building, Rooms 103 & 104, 650 Forest Avenue, Sheboygan Falls.

Greater Lower Chippewa and Western Prairie HRA
December 17, 1:00-3:30  Dunn County Fish and Game Clubhouse, Menominee.