I really apologize for the short notice on this posting! If you have a few
minutes before midnight EST on Thursday, March 20th, here's a chance to speak
for "prairie land" in a new Farm Bill program.
Comments are being taken on the initial development of the Conservation
Security Program (CSP). (Note that this is not the already-existing
Conservation Reserve Program, a.k.a. CRP.)
Below is a short official description of the CSP. Note the inclusion of
"prairie land"!
CSP is a voluntary program that provides financial and technical assistance
to promote the conservation and improvement of soil, water, air, energy,
plant and animal life, and other conservation purposes on Tribal and private
working lands. Working lands include cropland, grassland, prairie land,
improved pasture, and range land, as well as forested land that is an
incidental part of an agriculture operation.
The email address where CSP comments should be sent is:
[log in to unmask] The subject line should say: Attn: Conservation
Security Program.
Here's a sample message. Of course your own words would be even better:
I strongly support CSP rules that encourage the protection and
non-degradation of native prairies. Federal and state CSP rules should
encourage and enable landowners to protect their prairie land resources
through good management, including sustainable grazing, brush control, and
controlled burning. CSP rules should ensure that the CSP will avoid
subsidizing the planting of woody species on native prairies. CSP rules
should also recognize the irreplaceable value of native prairies for
biodiversity, and the unique ability of native prairies to sequester carbon
in prairie soils.
If you'd like to read more about the CSP, here's the website:
<A HREF="http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/farmbill/2002/pubntcs/csp030218.html">http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/farmbill/2002/pubntcs/csp030218.html</A>
Below, FYI, are some further (edited) points taken from a letter drafted for
the Iowa Prairie Network. I'd like to thank William McGuire of Missouri for
providing very helpful CSP information. Any mistakes in this posting are my
own.
Thank you for your interest in prairies!
Cindy Hildebrand
***
1. CSP rules and practices need to be targeted to the resource needs of
specific ecological regions. Within prairie regions, emphasis should be
placed on protecting and enhancing existing native prairies. Rules should
ensure that woody plantings are encouraged only on woodland soils.
2. CSP rules should recognize that according to current research, carbon
sequestration is a function of grasslands as well as trees. The CSP should
recognize and protect the carbon-sequestering functions of native prairies
and prairie plantings.
3. CSP rules should recognize that more than one resource function can and
should be provided by a given piece of working land. Well-managed native
prairie pastures, for example, can provide habitat for prairie plants and
animals as well as sustainable grazing, while also protecting water and soil
and sequestering carbon. CSP rules need to encourage working lands to be
managed for multiple resource benefits.
4. CSP rules should recognize that some natural resource functions are much
more difficult to replace than others. Landowners should be especially
encouraged to achieve non-degradation goals on land containing resource
functions that are difficult to replace, such as areas that contain a
diversity of native species, areas that contain rare species, and areas (such
as native tallgrass prairie remnants) that are uncommon in and of
themselves.
5. CSP rules should recognize that a bundle of practices may be needed to
achieve non-degradation goals on a given piece of land. To prevent
degradation of a prairie pasture, for example, it may be necessary to modify
grazing pressure, apply periodic burning, and control invasive trees, shrubs,
and exotic species. To the extent that several practices are needed to
address "conservation concerns" in a given ecological region, all those
practices should be eligible for the CSP.
6. CSP evaluation measures should include evaluations of how well the CSP is
working to encourage good management of prairie lands, whether CSP rules are
effectively preventing the subsidizing of woody plantings on prairies, how
well CSP management practices are preventing the degradation of native
prairies, and whether non-degradation goals are being achieved for prairie
land, grassland, and rangeland enrolled in the CSP.
***
Cindy Hildebrand
[log in to unmask]
57439 250th St.
Ames, IA 50010
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