August 2, 2010
New General CRP Signup Runs Through Aug. 27
A new general Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) signup, the first since 2006, begins today and runs through Aug. 27, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Conservation Reserve Program, which pays farmers and ranchers to idle environmentally sensitive lands and plant them to grass, has been called the most sweeping beneficial conservation initiative ever hatched by the federal government.
According to research conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, CRP has had a major duck impact, producing more than 2 million extra ducks on the wing each year since 1992. But the program once called "Noah's Arc for Wildlife" is literally losing ground, especially in the all-important Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North and South Dakota.
"The acreage losses continue to mount on the breeding grounds, and that's a serious problem for duck hunters," said Delta Waterfowl Senior Vice President John Devney. "Hopefully this new general signup will offset some of what's been lost."