This alert is from Izaak Walton League, posted by Jane Clark ----- Original Message ----- Subject: URGENT IWLA ACTION ALERT - Farm Conservation Program Funding in Jeopardy - Your Help Needed Immediately!! June 25, 2001 ******************************** The House Appropriations Committee is recommending the elimination of ALL funding for the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP), the Farmland Protection Program (FPP), and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP). Collectively, these programs have protected and restored more than 1,000,000 acres of fish and wildlife habitat and have helped save thousands of acres of agricultural lands from the pressures of urban sprawl. Your calls are needed to help preserve funding for these important programs! **The appropriations bill that eliminates funding for these programs may reach the House floor as early as tomorrow [June 26]. ** The success of these programs is impressive. WRP has placed more than a million acres of wetlands into long-term protective easements, some of them permanent, and has provided funding to restore wetlands degraded by agricultural operations. If Congress provided the necessary funding and authorization, and additional 500,000 acres of wetlands awaiting enrollment into the program could be immediately protected. WHIP is a successful partnership involving the federal government, state and local governments, and private organizations to restore important fish and wildlife habitat. FPP provides financial incentives to help farmers resist the pressures of urban sprawl and keep agricultural lands in agriculture. If the House maintains its current course, these programs will be stripped of funding for 2002. Please contact your Representatives immediately with the request that they support funding for WHIP, WRP, and FPP. Support for these programs in the House now will be extremely important throughout the debate over the 2002 Farm Bill and will help insure that these programs, which are popular with farmers and conservationists alike, are retained when Congress renews federal farm policy next year. Representative Greg Ganske (R), 202-225-4426, 202-225-3193, [log in to unmask] http://www.house.gov/ganske/ Representative Tom Latham (R),202-225-5476 [log in to unmask] Representative Jim Nussle (R) 800-927-5212, 202-225-2911 [log in to unmask] Representative Jim Leach (R) 202-225-6576 [log in to unmask] Representative Leonard Boswell (D) 202-225-3806 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]