Hello, Cindy

Thanks for you very clear and simple message re: this complicated topic.
I tried to call today but the offices were enjoying a Monday off due to
Veteran's Day.  Thanks.
I deliberately enclose your email to pass on the info to anyone who
missed it.

Joyce Naffier

On Mon, 12 Nov 2001 01:22:03 EST Cindy Hildebrand <[log in to unmask]>
writes:
> (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]
senate.gov</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
>

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