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onward and upward

I was glad to read in a recent e-mail from Tina Lorentzen, Chairwoman
for the new North American Prairie Coalition, that the consensus was to
cancel the new listserve and instead to use this older, more established
one.  Yea!

Welcome, to those of you who have recently signed up for
prairie@mallorn.com.

Iowa's Cindy Hildebrand stated in a recent email that it's been apparent
for
several years, to her and many other prairie enthusiasts, that some
United
States Department of Agriculture conservation programs are causing
unintended but serious problems for prairie remnants.  She provided some
background information which was forwarded to this listserve for
discussion.

To recount the problem as she laid it out:
1.  In some  cases, landowners are reportedly putting cropland into CRP,
and then plowing native prairie to put into row crops.     Bastards.

2.  There is a federal requirement that woody species be planted on
marginal
riparian pastures enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program.   This
requirement is causing the destruction of native prairie remnants and is

creating unnecessary costs for landowners and agencies.

3.  On some CRP land, invasive exotic plant species are being planted,
including
exotics that invade native prairie areas.   Some agency staff are
recommending exotics.

4.  There is concern that the planting of commercial prairie cultivars
near  native prairie remnants, and near source-identified prairie
nursery  plantings, may cause the genetic contamination of those
remnants and  plantings.

5.  Some program requirements make local-origin plantings difficult,
including high grass/forb seed ratios, all-at-once planting
requirements, and lack of incentives and program flexibility.

6.  In some cases, fertilizer was required for native plantings on sites
where the fertilizer helped only weeds

7.  In some cases, new plantings were required on already-vegetated
areas where  soil conservation, water quality, and wildlife habitat
already existed.

So, my question to you folks is, do any of you have examples you can
share about of prairies being harmed by Farm Bill rules?  And, what do
you think of all this?

lee stone
Austin, TX

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