National trend for habitat loss
concerning
BISMARCK, ND, January 4, 2008 – The conservation
organization Ducks Unlimited says it’s as if someone
plowed up a three-mile swath of wildlife habitat across
North Dakota, from its southern border to Canada. That’s
how many Conservation Reserve Program grassland acres
were lost in just this one state this past fall. 
New federal figures show almost 420,000 acres of
North Dakota CRP were converted to cropland in 2007.
That’s more than 12 percent of all CRP acres in the
state.
“If this trend holds for CRP contracts across the
country, we won’t have many acres of CRP left in a few
years and wildlife populations will suffer serious
declines,” said Scott McLeod, Farm Bill specialist with
DU’s Great Plains Regional Office.
US Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency
statistics compiled by the North Dakota Game and Fish
Department shows 16 North Dakota counties have CRP
losses greater than 15 percent. Stutsman County had the
highest loss with 65.3 square miles.
“We expected extensive losses, but this is about
double what FSA originally indicated would be lost this
year,” McLeod said.
With today’s high commodity prices and focus on
crop-based biofuels, Ducks Unlimited and other
conservation groups have been concerned that restored
wildlife habitat would go back into crop production when
CRP contracts expired in 2007. CRP offers producers
payments through 10 to 15 year contracts to convert
highly erodible cropland to grass.
“The rental rates paid for enrolling in CRP simply do
not compete with what producers can get today by renting
out the land for cropping or by farming it themselves,”
McLeod said.
The US Fish and Wildlife Services credits CRP with
producing more than 2 million ducks a year. This steady
stream of lost habitat will mean significantly lower
production of ducks that migrate through or winter in
all of the contiguous 48 states and provide and an
important part of the hunters’ bags in those states.
DU’s director of conservation programs in the Prairie
Pothole Region says conservation-minded people are
concerned the country’s new energy policy will wipe out
billions of federal dollars invested in natural
resources. “Conservation is in for a long swim against a
strong current when trying to fight the tide of land
rolling out of CRP,” Jim Ringelman said.
McLeod says the number of CRP acres going back into
crop production further emphasizes the need for a strong
Sodsaver in the 2007 Farm Bill. “The loss of CRP is
certainly a severe blow to waterfowl and other
grassland-dependent wildlife, but native prairie cannot
be replaced,” he said. “Native prairie and wetland
complexes are critical habitats for nesting waterfowl
and ranchers alike.”
CRP encourages farmers to convert highly erodible
cropland or other environmentally sensitive acreage to
grass. Annual rental payments based on the
agriculture rental value of the land are paid to the
landowner under 10 to 15 year contracts.
With more than a million supporters, Ducks
Unlimited is the world’s largest and most effective
wetland and waterfowl conservation organization with
almost 12 million acres conserved. The United States
alone has lost more than half of its original wetlands -
nature’s most productive ecosystem - and continues to
lose more than 80,000 wetland acres each year.
For more information on the Conservation
Reserve Program and Ducks Unlimited’s Farm Bill
priorities, please see:
www.ducks.org/crp
http://www.ducks.org/farmbill/
Media contacts:
Becky Jones
Mahlum
701-355-3507
bjonesmahlum@ducks.org
Mike
Checkett
901.758.3793
mcheckett@ducks.org