D R A F T
Kansas Conservation Coalition
Priorities for the Conservation Title of the 2012 Farm Bill
The 2012 Farm Bill has the potential to benefit every Kansan by delivering programs that balance food, fiber, and energy security with healthy fish and wildlife habitats that provide abundant food, clean water, clean air, and enduring landscapes. The following conservation priorities for Kansas will ensure outcomes from the 2012 Farm Bill will maximize societal benefits of every dollar spent on conservation. Investing wisely in conservation programs can save the federal government money, while stimulating rural economies and communities.
The mission of the Kansas Conservation Coalition is to ensure that the Farm Bill delivers effective conservation programs that maintain and enhance working farms and ranches, restore and protect the health of Kansas’ diverse natural resources, address priority wildlife habitat needs and support sustainable rural communities. KCC member organizations are listed at the bottom of this statement.
Kansas Conservation Coalition Priorities
- Maintain success and baseline funding of proven programs.
- Prevent conversion of native habitats.
- Protect the ecological integrity of working lands.
- Support provisions that provide increased societal benefits in the Conservation Title of the Farm Bill.
- Eliminate the unintended consequences in the Farm Bill that come from working at cross-purposes and creating additional natural resource challenges.
- Focus on priority fish and wildlife species and habitats.
- Biofuels and Renewable Energy provisions must be consistent with the purposes and programs of the Conservation Title.
Conservation Priorities Detailed:
Maintain success and baseline funding of proven programs
o Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) – Reauthorize USDA’s most successful conservation program at the current authorized level of 32 million acres to meet Kansas priority conservation needs and strong landowner support of this vital program. The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) and Continuous CRP (CCRP) authority should also be reauthorized. The CRP in Kansas contributes important income to rural communities that are struggling in the current economic downturn. Approximately $122.8 million dollars of payments went to Kansas CRP participants in 2009. CRP lands stimulate fish and wildlife production which in turn, stimulate outdoor recreation and associated economic business development in many rural communities. General Signup CRP fields enrolled in large grassland blocks in Kansas have provided critical habitat for many struggling, grassland wildlife species and has led to an expansion of a species, the Lesser Prairie-Chicken, currently being considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
o Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) – Kansas landowners have restored and protected over 27,000 acres of wetlands in Kansas through WRP. Maintain at 2008 Farm Bill authorization levels to insure wetland conservation, mitigate wetlands loss, provide migratory bird and fisheries habitat and improve water quality. The WRP should continue to be a stand-alone program because of its unique functions and restoration components.
o Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP) - Maintain at 2008 Farm Bill authorization levels. Kansas ranchers are the sole stewards of the last of America’s declining tallgrass prairie and have demonstrated a keen interest in preserving that landscape by leading the nation in offering conservation easements on 41,998 acres. GRP is vital to protect Kansas’s rare and declining prairie landscapes.
o Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) – Since 1998, Kansas landowners have enrolled over 243,000 acres into WHIP. Applications typically exceed available funding. WHIP should be reauthorized and continue to focus on priority fish and wildlife species and habitats on all lands suitable for habitat development. To maximize conservation opportunities and improve technical assistance delivery, USDA should recognize the management authority of state fish and wildlife agencies and readily enter into cooperative agreements to help USDA design, plan, implement and monitor conservation programs that benefit fish and wildlife resources.
o Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) – Kansas producers have consistently shown strong interest in addressing resource concerns on their land. Applications for assistance far exceed available funding. EQIP should be reauthorized and baseline funding continued. EQIP funding shall be approved only for practices and structures that do not adversely impact wetlands, riparian zones, streams, native grasslands, forests and other environmentally sensitive areas.
Prevent conversion of native habitats
o To reduce the loss of native grasslands, rangelands and prairie authorize a “Sodsaver” provision that would prevent any land that does not meet the definition of cropland, as determined by the USDA/Farm Service Agency, converted from non-cropland status to cropland be made ineligible for any federal benefit, including but not limited to price and income support payments, crop insurance, disaster payments, conservation program enrollment, and FSA farm loan benefits. To preserve its identity, non-cropland converted to cropland shall be reconstituted as a separate farm by FSA.
Protect the ecological integrity of working lands
o Farm and Ranchland Protection Program (FRPP) – The Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP) is a voluntary conservation easement program to limit non-agricultural uses on farm and ranch lands. Properly certified organizations (land trusts) are eligible to submit proposals to NRCS for funding of conservation easements on qualifying properties. In Kansas, the non-government matching funds are usually evenly split evenly between the landowner and the land trust. The Nature Conservancy, Kansas Land Trust, and Ranchland Trust of Kansas have all applied FRPP funds to assist in the purchase of development rights on more than 23,000 acres in the Flint Hills and about 1,600 acres in the Smoky Hills.
In Kansas there is special emphasis on counties that are predominantly native rangeland located in the Flint Hills, Smoky Hills and Red Hills. They have exceptional value for livestock grazing and provide critical habitat for wildlife. If not protected, these areas are threatened from fragmentation, because of the pressures of urban-to-rural migration, energy development, and housing and “ranchettes” encroachment. This program should be made available in the 2012 Farm Bill.
o Forestry & Agro-forestry – The application of USDA conservation programs should use the Kansas Forest Resource Assessment and Strategy to address the priority resource issues identified by Kansans and target funding to high priority areas. The re-authorization and increased funding of the Forest Stewardship Program, Forest Legacy Program, Healthy Forest Reserve Program, and the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative will assist in the implementation of strategies identified in the plan protecting and sustaining forest and agro-forests for future generations.
Support provisions that provide increased societal benefits in the Conservation Title of the Farm Bill.
○ The 2008 Farm Bill established the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentives Program (VPA-HIP). The basic goal of the program is to increase public access for wildlife dependant recreation on farm and ranchlands. In Kansas, hunters spend more than $245 million annually on hunting-related purchases. Outdoor recreation can help stimulate rural economies and communities that are struggling with difficult economic conditions. Continued reauthorization of VPA-HIP is a wise use of financial resources that maximizes societal benefits from the Farm Bill.
Eliminate the unintended consequences in the Farm Bill that come from working at cross-purposes and creating additional natural resource challenges.
○ Re-couple conservation compliance, including Swampbuster, Sodbuster and Highly Erodible Land, to all USDA program payments, including crop insurance and disaster assistance payments and strengthen monitoring and enforcement of conservation compliance. The federal government will save money by reducing funds spent correcting new or additional natural resource problems created by conversion of native habitats.
○ Discontinue subsidizing the establishment of invasive, introduced plants species that conflict with and undermine priority fish and wildlife habitat conservation and restoration goals and objectives.
○ All Farm Bill programs on cropland should be managed in a manner that does not conflict with soil, water and fish and wildlife conservation for the duration of the contracts or work at cross purposes with other provisions.
Focus on priority fish and wildlife species and habitats.
○ Focusing on priority fish and wildlife species and habitat identified in state, regional and national conservation initiatives provides funding where it can be the most effective in addressing the most pressing fish, wildlife and habitat issues affecting species in decline. An important initiative in Kansas is the Lesser Prairie-chicken Initiative which targets funding towards averting the species march toward threatened and endangered status. By focusing on priority fish, wildlife, and habitats that are in the need of the most attention, we can reduce potential regulatory threats and risks to production agriculture and sustain the landscapes that support rural Kansas.
Bio-fuels and Renewable Energy provisions must be consistent with the purposes and programs of the Conservation Title
○ Bio-fuels and Renewable Energy – Taxpayer expenditures, crop subsidies and/or renewable energy use mandates should not be used for bio-fuel production that undermines the investment made in soil, water, and wildlife conservation, nutrient management, and water quality protection and improvements made possible by federal and state investments under Farm Bill conservation programs during the past 25 years. Research and development funding should only be used to promote bio-fuels and renewable energy technology that substantially reduces consumption of fossil fuels in all aspects of production, and does not result in the degradation or destruction of native grasslands, forests, and significant ecological resources.
Membership of the Kansas Conservation Coalition includes the following organizations and businesses: Audubon of Kansas, Ark River Coalition, Ducks Unlimited, Friends of the Kaw, Grassland Heritage Foundation, Homerun Outfitters & Taxidermy, Jayhawk Audubon Society, Kansas B.A.S.S. Chapter Federation, Kansas Bowhunters Association, Kansas Chapter The Wildlife Society, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, Kansas Farmers Union, Kansas Forest Service, Kansas Natural Resource Council, Kansas Rural Center, Kansas Sierra Club, Kansas State Rifle Association, Kansas Wildlife Federation, National Wild Turkey Federation, Partners for Conservation, Pass It On - Outdoor Mentors, Inc., Playa Lakes Joint Venture, Quail & Upland Wildlife Federation, Tallgrass Legacy Alliance and The Nature Conservancy in Kansas.
