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:   

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/farmbill/2002/pubntcs/csp030218.html

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

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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. 

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Cindy Hildebrand
[log in to unmask]
57439 250th St.
Ames, IA  50010
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