Press Conference Thursday 10 a.m.

Five national groups have formed a coalition to try to get funding back in
the federal budget for the Wetlands Reserve (WRP), Wildlife Habitat
Incentive Program (WHIP), and Farmland Protection Program (a program that
helps protect farms from sprawl).  The 5 groups include Defenders of
Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, PIRG, Sierra Club and National
Environmental Trust.

A press conference will be held this Thursday and will feature some farmers
and others speaking in favor of these programs, which incidentally all
protect or restore habitat.

The press conference will be held Thursday, the 19th, at 10 a.m. at the
Capitol, room 118.  Anyone is welcome to attend to show support.

If you are interested in more details, let me know.  We'd like to have the
room full of people.

Thanks,
Jane Clark
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"ZERO FUNDING" FOR AG CONSERVATION
From Defenders of Wildlife
While the huge federal budget surplus has sparked record tax cuts, a House
subcommittee on agriculture recommended "ZERO FUNDING" for three key
agricultural conservation programs: the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), the
Wildlife Habitats Incentive Programs (WHIP) and the Farmland Protection
Program (FPP). These three voluntary, incentive based programs protect
hundreds of thousands of acres of habitat and the wildlife that depend on
it. They also often provide the only means family farmers and ranchers have
to properly steward the land. While cutting the funding for such programs is
a theme of the Bush Administration, a coalition of over 100 national and
local farming, church, conservation and hunting and fishing groups take the
position that incentive based ag conservation should be supported.

The next farm bill re-authorization is slated to occur in 2002, though a
great deal of work is currently going on behind the scenes. This bill will
have tremendous impact on family farmers, consumers and the environment.
It's time we put aside our differences and join efforts in demanding safe
food that sustains our farm families and replenishes and heals our
biodiversity, water and land. Future generations will thank us proudly.

**************************************************************************
Zero Funding means farmers will lose the ability to:

Enroll more land in the Wetlands Reserve Program
Further protect wildlife with the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program
Protect additional Farmland from urban sprawl with the Farmland Protection
Program

We are deeply concerned that three key agriculture conservation incentive
programs - the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), the Farmland Protection
Program (FPP), and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) - have
been zero-funded in the Agriculture Appropriations bill by the House of
Representatives. Many American agricultural producers need these programs to
assist them in being good stewards of the land. The Farmland Protection
Program has leveraged $230 million in state and local funding and protected
127,000 acres of farmland from sprawling development. WHIP cost-share
programs have improve nearly 1.4 million acres of habitat for Atlantic
salmon, northern bobwhite, Karner blue butterfly and other species. WRP
enrollments have helped protect and restore nearly a million acres of
wetlands. However, tremendous needs still exist. FPP, for instance,
currently has a backlog of over 4,000 farmers. While we recognize that these
programs have expended authorized acreage or dollar amounts, we estimate
that demand for WRP is more than $578 million, FPP more than $200 million,
and WHIP more than $150 million.

We believe that funding to address existing demand for WRP, FPP, and WHIP
can and should be accomplished within a fiscally-responsible appropriations
bill and will help farmers and all Americans alike. Funds to restore these
three programs should come out of programs that do not provide other
benefits to family farmers.

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