(This posting was sent to the Iowa native plant list. I thought it might
also interest some Sierrans.) -- Cindy Hildebrand
Earlier this year, a landowner bulldozed, burned, and sprayed a high-quality
Iowa woodland with huge hickory trees and diverse wildflowers. (A nearby
virgin prairie with orchids had recently met a similar fate.) When
confronted by an angry neighbor, the landowner responded, "Lady, this is the
new economics. The government will pay me to plant rowcrops on this land for
two years, and then I'll get paid to plant shrubs and put it in the
Conservation Reserve Program."
If you don't want your tax dollars used that way, now is the time to help
change the Farm Bill. It is critical that Senator Tom Harkin hear from
conservation-minded constituents early this week (preferably by Tuesday).
Harkin's office is already hearing plenty from those who want to continue
to spend lots on commodities and little on conservation.
A message to help Farm Bill conservation can be very simple: I support a
strong conservation title in the next Farm Bill.
If you especially want to help stop the use of Farm Bill dollars to subsidize
natural area destruction, there are three other important short messages:
(1) I support the Grassland Reserve Program. Thank you for including it.
The proposed Grassland Reserve Program, included in Harkin's Farm Bill, would
pay landowners, via easement, to protect virgin prairies, which are currently
not eligible for farm programs. The Reserve would help offset the current
Farm Bill incentives to turn prairies into cornfields.
(2) I support Super Sodbuster. Thank you for including it.
Super Sodbuster, included in Harkin's Farm Bill, would make it much more
difficult for landowners to tear up virgin prairies and still get crop
support payments, crop insurance, and other Farm Bill payments on the rest of
their land.
(3) I support the CRP date-certain eligibility clause. Thank you for
including it.
I'm not sure this clause has an official name, but it's important. If it
becomes law, land which is put into rowcrops for the first time after the new
Farm Bill is enacted would not be eligible for the CRP (Conservation Reserve
Program). This clause would close the current loophole which says that
land has to have been in rowcrops for two of the past five years in order to
be eligible for the CRP. The result of this ongoing two-out-of-five
provision is that some landowners in Iowa and elsewhere are plowing prairies
and bulldozing woodlands, getting crop support payments for putting that land
in rowcrops for two years, and then getting paid again to enroll that land in
the CRP. The CRP date-certain eligibility clause, which only Harkin has
proposed, would prevent actions like the one in the horror story.
The Grassland Reserve, Super Sodbuster, and the CRP date-certain eligibility
clause are vulnerable. They could be weakened or sacrificed as Farm Bill
compromises are hammered out. The more support they get, the likelier they
are to become law. If you'd like to help, the most effective way would be a
phone call to Senator Harkin's office. Phone numbers are below:
Senator Harkin's Des Moine office: 515-284-4574
(Staff members are Ellen King Huntoon and John Moreland)
Senator Harkin's Washington office: 202-224-3254
The second-best way is an email. (It will apparently help if you indicate
in the subject line that you are an Iowan.)
Senator Harkin's email address:
<A HREF="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]</A>
If you'd like to make another contact to help further, contact Senator Chuck
Grassley and ask him to support the same conservation proposals.
Senator Grassley's Des Moines office: (515) 284-4890
(Staff member is Aaron McKay)
Senator Grassley's Washington office: 202-224-3744
Senator Grassley's email address:
<A HREF="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]</A>
Thank you very much for reading this long posting, and for the helpful
contacts that have been made already!
Cindy
Cindy Hildebrand
[log in to unmask]
Ames, IA 50010
|
