Conservation choices

Talk about it

Landowners wondering what to do with 236,000 expiring acres of Conservation Reserve Program land this fall may have nothing to wonder about.

The United States Department of Agriculture will offer three- or five-year extensions on 56,000 acres set to expire in September, many of which will be located in the southwestern part of the state, said Kevin Kading, director of the Private Lands Section of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

“That’s statewide, but the way it turned out is the bulk of those actually ended up being in the southwestern part of the state,’” Kading said. “That’s good news for southwestern North Dakota, because there were a lot of acres that were set to expire out there.”

Kading said the bulk of the extensions being set for the southwest was a pleasant surprise to the department because it was an area they were concerned about losing habitat in.

The state is set to lose a large percentage of its CRP acreage, which provides valuable habitat for wildlife, Kading said.

“It’s vital we try to keep CRP acres out there just for the fact that this is nesting cover, this is brooding cover, this is food source for wildlife,” said Jesse Beckers, biologist for Pheasants Forever in Bismarck.

In an attempt to further protect that habitat, Beckers said Pheasants Forever will be pursuing an expansion of the USDA’s State Acres For Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) program in southwestern North Dakota.

There are three designated SAFE areas in North Dakota.

One in the sage grouse habitat in the southwest corner, another in the central prairie pothole region and one in the east’s prairie chicken habitat.

If approved, the SAFE designation proposal would help qualify another 20,000 acres for new contracts, Beckers said.

“The reason Pheasants Forever began writing this proposal was to provide continuous CRP acres for those landowners that wished to keep their land in CRP,” Beckers said.

And to provide landowners with extra incentive to continue to participate in the CRP program, the NDGF has its Private Lands Open to Sportsmen, or PLOTS, program which pays landowners that allow their land to open to those looking for a place to hunt.

“Whenever we can partner with other groups or piggyback onto other programs, like CRP, that’s one of the most efficient ways to get habitat on the landscape and keep habitat on the landscape,” Kading said.

But PLOTS can’t do what CRP does on its own, Kading stressed, which he said is a common misconception.

“Right now, with the exception of these three-to-five year extensions, they don’t have any opportunities out there,” Kading said. “If they want to keep it in CRP and they didn’t get an extension they’re pretty much sitting there wondering what to do with it. Many of them don’t have renters or they don’t want to farm it so they would love to keep it in CRP.”

Randy Kreil, chief of the NDGF’s wildlife division said the new extensions and the Pheasants Forever proposal are good steps, but not the solution.

“Yes, this is positive, but this pales in comparison of what needs to happen to save CRP in southwest North Dakota,” Kreil said.

Maintaining the habitat that remains is key to continuing to provide hunting options for in-state and out-of-state hunters alike, Kreil said.

“Every acre of grass we can keep green side up in southwest North Dakota will provide benefits for wildlife,” Kreil said. “This recent proposal to extend a portion of the acres is a positive first step. But there’s a lot more to be done if we are going to maintain the level of wildlife and hunting opportunities that the people in southwest North Dakota have become used to.”

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