2008 Farm Bill Update
No matter our political bent or opinions on Washington, we can all agree that wise policymaking benefits conservation. The NWTF has long been an advocate for federal conservation policies that support healthy forests, improve wildlife habitat, create better access for hunters, and offer more resources for the conservation of the wild turkey and other wildlife.
The NWTF was a strong advocate of the wildlife provisions of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, also known as the 2008 Farm Bill. We worked successfully for:
• Changes to the more than $1 billion per year Environmental Quality Incentives Program that makes forestry a co-equal purpose of the program, and allows the funds to be used to combat invasive pests like the pine beetle and sudden oak death.
• A new $100-million program that will allow for thinning, burning and management for wildlife on pine-planted Conservation Reserve Program acreage and reimbursement of up to 50 percent of landowner costs.
• Saving non-industrial private forestland as an eligible use of the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program.
• Creating a mandatory funded $50 million Hunter Access Program administered by the USDA Farm Service Agency that will create significant new opportunities for hunter access in most states and enhance successful programs in existing states.
• And the NWTF assisted in securing $50 million in funding for the Healthy Forest Reserve Program, which was established to restore and enhance forest ecosystems to help in the recovery of threatened and endangered species, improve biodiversity and enhance carbon sequestration.
The heavily debated stimulus bill was also an opportunity to promote the NWTF’s priorities. The Federation supported an increase in excess of a billion dollars for wildland fire management for the US Forest Service to better manage forestlands and reduce fuel loads that lead to catastrophic wildfires.
I am proud that our NWTF leadership and volunteers make conservation a priority and hold the staff accountable for making progress towards our conservation goals. — James Earl Kennamer, Ph.D.
Current NWTF Conservation Initiatives
EQIP – Forestry Incentives
Forests benefit us all. They provide clean water and air, protect soils, and provide valuable wildlife habitat. Before the 2008 Farm Bill, forestry was not a stated priority of EQIP, the largest and most highly funded conservation program (to the tune of $7.3 billion for 2008 to 2012).
The NWTF worked with our champions to amend EQIP to provide new mandates in support of forestlands on farms and on private non-industrial land. Specifically, EQIP’s authorities were amended to help better enhance forests that are part of a farm operation or produce an annual crop, and mandate that forestry is treated as an equal land management practice to agriculture.
With these new authorities, we can improve forest management through prescribed fire, conversion of slash and loblolly pine to longleaf pine, midstory hardwood control, timber stand improvement, and by controlling invasive species. Landowners also can apply EQIP practices to help control sediment from timber harvest activities, plant diverse tree species, create early successional habitats, and support pre-commercial thinning to improve wildlife habitat. These forest management practices will improve water quality, restore forest biodiversity and control invasive species.
CRP Wildlife Initiative
The 2008 Farm Bill amends Section 1235C of the Food Security Act to create a program to improve wildlife habitat in the Southeast on Conservation Reserve Program acreage planted to trees. With this provision, the bill further directs USDA to work with non-governmental organizations like the NWTF to encourage the use of alltypes of forest management practices to achieve the purposes of the program.
Previous work by the Federation indicates significant parts of Southeastern CRP acres planted to trees are in desperate need of thinning and managing. A weak market for wood pulp seems to be a major cause of poor management. This new initiative provides a 50 percent cost share for CRP program participants for forest management activities.
We want to increase participation in the program by working with partners to conduct landowner education events and field days in key areas where CRP acreage planted to trees exists.
Public access and habitat incentive programs
Another priority is increased access to land for hunting. We established a voluntary public access program under which state and tribal governments may apply for grants to encourage owners and operators of privately-held farms, ranches and forestlands to voluntarily make their land available to the public for wildlife-dependent recreation, including hunting and fishing. The various governments would administer the programs, and Congress will provide $50 million in funds.
NWTF members have taken such access programs to heart, like the Kansas Walk In Hunter Program and similar efforts in the Dakotas. Kansas has enrolled more than 500,000 acres in the program — much of it CRP acreage — and it has been an overwhelming success.
Our hope is the established programs enroll a variety of land types (cropland, woodland and rangeland) and that the USDA Farm Service Agency reaches out to large timber companies, large landholders and mining companies to encourage their participation.
Don’t forget the youngsters
In the NWTF spirit of sharing our love for the outdoors and hunting with others, we asked the USDA to provide incentives for states that encourage youth hunting and youth access. Youth-only hunts are an excellent way to safely introduce the next generation to our treasured pastime.