Pasted below is a joint news release from the DNR and the USDA Farm Service Agency on the expansion of continuous CRP for "quail" buffers to throughout the state.


Iowa DNR News
Environmental Services Division

For immediate release Dec. 6, 2005

Note to Editors: This is a joint news release from the Iowa DNR and the USDA Farm Service Agency


For more information, contact Derryl McLaren at (515) 254-1540 or Todd Bogenschutz at 515-432-2823, or contact your local USDA Service Center.

CRP "QUAIL and SONGBIRD" BUFFER TO GO STATEWIDE

DES MOINES * The USDA Farm Service Agency announced today that a program they offer to improve habitat for songbirds and quail is now offered throughout the entire state of Iowa.

"This is an excellent opportunity for small and large landowners in the northern half of the state to put in buffers around crop fields," said Derryl McLaren, State Executive Director of the Iowa USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA).

The program offers landowners incentives and rental payments when they convert part of a crop field to a buffer strip. The buffers provide travel corridors for wildlife and important food and cover, especially during the winter and critical nesting and brood rearing times.

"This continuous Conservation Reserve Program or CRP can help reduce a long-term decline in grassland songbirds and quail populations," said Todd Bogenschutz, Iowa DNR Upland Game Biologist. "In less than 20 years, from 1980 to 1999, there has been a nationwide decline in quail numbers from an estimated population of 59 million birds to 20 million birds."

Most grassland songbirds have been declining at a similar rate as quail populations * about two to four percent annually since 1960, added Bogenschutz.

The program offers incentives that pay up to 90 percent of the establishment costs and a $100 per acre sign-up bonus. Then, throughout the 10 years of the contract, the landowner receives a rental rate based on soil types.

Landowners must install buffers around the edges of existing crop fields, preferably next to woody cover. With an average width of 30 to 120 feet, producers cannot use the buffer for turn rows, roads, or to store crops or equipment.

The DNR has wildlife biologists who can assist with enrollment. Call 515-281-5918 for the name of a biologist near you or contact your local USDA Farm Service Agency County Office or Service Center.

"Iowa has a maximum of 20,000 acres eligible for the sign-up," said McLaren. "This program has been open to landowners in the southern half of the state since last year, and now we wish to make the maximum use of our eligible acres, so the program will now be offered statewide."

McLaren adds that if you are interested in the program you should act fast and sign-up at your local Farm Service Agency soon.

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Karen Grimes
515-281-5135
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