Farm Bill/Prairie Information
- Subject: Farm Bill/Prairie Information
- From: G*@aol.com
- Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 17:48:15 EDT
| The article below was published in the Iowa Prairie Network newsletter, and
later revised and published in the IOWA SIERRAN. I've modified it a little for this listserve. Please check with me if you want to publish any of this material elsewhere, but meanwhile, please treat it as sendable email, especially if you know anyone who might be interested in using the information to write to Congress. One letter from a constituent carries more power than any article, and prairies really need the help. (I do know that some people may not agree with all of this article, but I hope that most prairie enthusiasts can agree with at least some of it.) THANKS! Cindy Hildebrand *** PRAIRIES AT STAKE IN 2002 FARM BILL by Cindy Hildebrand (An earlier version of this article appeared in the Summer 2001 edition of the Iowa Prairie Network's IPN NEWS.) Nothing will determine the fate of our surviving native prairies more than the 2002 Farm Bill. The current farm bill encourages the destruction of native prairies. Prairie destruction was not the intention, but it is the predictable result of incentives built into farm programs. Farm program incentives are causing prairies to be plowed up and planted to rowcrops, or damaged by tree and shrub plantings. The question is whether the next farm bill will provide incentives for prairie protection or prairie destruction. Current farm programs, while they sometimes encourage new prairie plantings, do not protect native (virgin never-plowed) prairies. As the National Wildlife Federation has pointed out, "No conservation program currently exists that directly conserves intact native grasslands and their wildlife. In fact, while grasslands provide a tremendous benefit to society, an intact native grassland may be the only parcel on a working landscape that is not eligible to be enrolled in any farm program." America's native prairies are important natural resources with great public value. They build soil, store carbon, shelter a rich diversity of wildlife, harbor rare species, and provide recreational opportunities for millions of Americans. They are also very important to America's livestock industry. Many native prairies, in Iowa and elsewhere, are privately owned, and are being used as pasture, rangeland, or hayland. Native prairies also have value because of their special capacity to absorb, store, purify, and gradually release water. Scientists are studying the unique hydrological qualities of native prairies in order to design better ways to control floods and prevent water pollution in rural and urban landscapes. Prairie plantings have value, but they cannot match the soil structure, biodiversity, hydrology, and recreational value of native prairies. Scientists estimate that it would take at least four centuries for planted prairies to match native prairies in quality. Prairies once covered much of North America, but are now our most endangered landscape. Unfortunately, tax-funded farm programs are a major reason why. The 2002 Farm Bill needs to ensure the sustainability of the nation's irreplaceable prairie resources by including the following elements: 1. A voluntary Grassland Reserve Program should be established, giving landowners the opportunity to enroll their lands and receive payment for permanent or 30-year easements. Priority should be given to native prairies that provide habitat for rare and declining species, and small prairies should be eligible as well as large ones. Well-managed grazing and seed harvest should be allowed where appropriate. 2. Commodity support programs should be designed so they do not encourage or result in the conversion of native prairies to cropland. 3. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) should be changed so that landowners are no longer encouraged to plow up and crop native prairie for two years in order to qualify the land for enrollment in the CRP. 4. The federal requirement that trees and shrubs be planted on CRP riparian marginal pastureland should be removed. The requirement causes serious problems in prairie states like Iowa, where it wastes money, angers landowners, destroys native prairies, and imperils rare species. On CRP pastureland, prairie vegetation should be encouraged on prairie soils. 5. All biomass programs should be carefully designed so they do not encourage or subsidize the plowing of native prairies in order to plant the land to biomass crops. 6. Conservation programs for working lands should encourage and reward sustainable grazing and good stewardship on native prairie pastures, hayland, and rangeland. 7. The CRP and Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) should be made sufficiently flexible so that state and local officials will have the ability to protect native prairies by using appropriate seed and management techniques on nearby CRP and WRP plantings. 8. The Sodbuster compliance provision should be reauthorized and strengthened so it extends the same protection to prairies and other native plant communities that Swampbuster extends to wetlands. 9. The Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, which has helped landowners protect native prairies, often with the help of state and local matching funds, should be reauthorized with increased funding. 10. The Farmland Protection Program, which has helped landowners protect native prairies and other unique farmland from development through permanent conservation easements, should get full funding and support. By including native prairie protection in the 2002 Farm Bill, Congress would help all Americans, as well as our natural resources and our agricultural economy. Farmers and ranchers who have kept their native prairies intact, thereby providing benefits to the public, would be economically rewarded instead of punished. Our serious crop overproduction problem would be reduced. And future Americans would be able to experience wild native prairies and discover their special magic. Prairies are getting little attention in current Farm Bill debates. If you want to help them, please write to your U.S. senators and congressional representatives. (Cindy Hildebrand is a prairie enthusiast who lives near Ames.) *** Cindy Hildebrand grantridge@aol.com 57439 250th St. Ames, IA 50010 515-232-3807 "One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries." (A.A. Milne) |
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