Farm Service Agency State Executive Director Dan Steinkruger said the upcoming sign-up opportunity for USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is “critical to the Nebraska environment and for a greener and healthier America.”

“Interested farmers and landowners should contact their local FSA office to schedule an appointment between August 2 and 27, 2010 if they are interested in the program, he said.

As of August 1, 2010, Nebraska has 1,092,760 acres under contract in the CRP. On September 30, 2010 there are 179,185 acres expiring from contracts or 16.4% of the total Nebraska acreage.

“Nebraska needs a strong enrollment in this program period to maintain the environmental benefits we have built in past years under the CRP,” said Steinkruger.

The general sign-up will run Monday, August 2nd through Friday, August 27th. Both Pheasants Forever and Quails Forever said the CRP sign-up is important to growing the state’s hunting industry. 

The new general CRP signup will be the first since 2006, and landowner demand is expected to be strong, especially considering the USDA has updated soil rental rates since that last general signup.

“CRP continues to be a good option for producers to ensure income on the tough-to-farm and lowest producing acres,” said Dave Nomsen, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s Vice President of Government Affairs, “This general signup’s 4 million-plus acre nationwide allotment is likely to fill up quickly, so it’s critical that landowners get into their local USDA service centers immediately to examine CRP options on their land.” 

 The new CRP general sign-up arrives in time to address the 4.4 million acres of CRP expiring on September 30, 2010. It is also representative of USDA’s ongoing action to maximize the wildlife habitat and environmental benefits created via the program’s 25-year history.

This February at Pheasants Forever’s National Pheasant Fest, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced his pledge to keep CRP fully enrolled at the federally mandated (via the 2008 Farm Bill) maximum level of 32 million acres. With an additional 14.2 million acres of CRP slated to expire between 2011 and 2013, the new general sign-up is the critical first step, said Nomsen.

 CRP acres provide the top nationwide habitat component in producing pheasants. Just three years removed from record-setting pheasant harvests (Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota); hunters have been disappointed in the 6.5 million acres that left the Conservation Reserve Program without a general signup. America’s quail populations continue their rapid decline because of habitat losses.

 ”This new general signup is critical to prevent us from losing more acres and for preventing continued population decline of the birds many of us love to pursue each autumn,” Nomsen said. 

Nomsen also said CRP plays a vital role in serving the rural environment and the rural economy.

“For 25 years, CRP has been the nation’s single most important and successful conservation program, protecting water quality and soils, and creating habitat for a diverse mix of wildlife,” he said, “It’s a program critically important to the economy of rural America and our nation’s outdoor traditions. CRP in the next 25 years will continue all of these benefits, while also producing the habitat critical to pollinators and the $19 billion dollars honey bee pollination means to America’s agricultural economy.”

Ducks Unlimited says the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new Conservation Reserve Program general sign-up comes at a critical time for duck populations with the nesting grounds continuing to disappear. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack yesterday announced the agency will allow new enrollments in CRP in 2010, the first since 2006. 

Producers enrolling in CRP plant long-term, resource-conserving covers in exchange for rental payments, cost-share, and technical assistance. CRP protects millions of acres of America’s topsoil from erosion and is designed to improve the nation’s natural resources base.

Participants voluntarily remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production by entering into long-term contracts for 10 to 15 years. In exchange, participants receive annual rental payments and a payment of up to 50 percent of the cost of establishing conservation practices.

FSA implements CRP on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation. FSA will evaluate and rank eligible CRP offers using an Environmental Benefits Index (EBI) for environmental benefits to be gained from enrolling the land in CRP.

The EBI consists of five environmental factors (wildlife, water, soil, air and enduring benefits) and cost. Decisions on the EBI cutoff will be made after the sign-up ends and after analyzing the EBI data of all the offers.

Those who would have met previous sign-up EBI thresholds are not guaranteed a contract under this sign-up. In addition to the general sign-up, CRP’s continuous sign-up program will be ongoing. Continuous acres represent the most environmentally desirable and sensitive land. For more information, visit http://www.fsa.usda.gov/crp.

There are many reasons to visit the Nebraska National Forest in Halsey, including peace of mind.

The Nebraska National Forest  is 90,444 acres of gently rolling Sandhills interspersed with 20,000 acres of man-planted trees, including ponderosa pine, eastern redcedar, and jack pine.

What makes the Nebraska National Forest unique is it’s the largest man-made forest in the United States. Climbing to the top of the Scott Lookout Tower, the traveler can see the trees and Sandhills for miles.  Camping, hiking, fishing, canoeing, and tubing are all available, as well as 300 miles of off-road trails for horses and ATVs.

Another thing that makes the Nebraska National Forest special, though, is research being conducted by Dr. Eeva Karjalainen of the Finnish Forest Research Institute.

“Many people feel relaxed and good when they are out in nature. But not many of us know that there is also scientific evidence about the healing effects of nature,” Karjalainen said.

According to the research, forests – and other natural, green settings – can reduce stress, improve moods, reduce anger and aggressiveness and increase overall happiness. Forest visits may also strengthen our immune system by increasing the activity and number of natural killer cells that destroy cancer cells.

Many studies show that after stressful or concentration-demanding situations, people recover faster and better in natural environments than in urban settings. Blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and the level of “stress hormones” all decrease faster in natural settings. Depression, anger and aggressiveness are reduced in green environments and ADHD symptoms in children reduce when they play in green settings.

“Preserving green areas and trees in cities is very important to help people recover from stress, maintain health and cure diseases.  There is also monetary value in improving people’s working ability and reducing health care costs.” Karjalainen said.

 Gov. Dave Heineman, on Wednesday, requested U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to declare agricultural disasters for nine Nebraska counties as a result of crop damage experienced this summer following excessive rain, hail, high winds, and flooding.

 “This request reflects the impact of major storms that brought heavy rain in a short period of time, often with damaging winds and hail,” Heineman said. “While moisture during the growing season is a good thing, these areas experienced too much rain.”

 The request includes Box Butte, Cheyenne and Kimball Counties in western Nebraska; Boone, Boyd, Garfield, and Holt Counties in the north central part of the state; Dawson County in central Nebraska; and Johnson County in southeast Nebraska.

 According to reports compiled by U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency offices, a range of crops in these counties were impacted including alfalfa, wheat, soybeans, sunflowers, millet, sorghum, sugar beets, pinto and kidney beans, and oats.

 Secretarial Natural Disaster Designations are necessary to access various USDA disaster assistance programs, including low-interest loans and the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program, or SURE.

With Congress to consider legislation for offshore energy reform, Marilyn Heiman, director of Pew Environment Group’s offshore energy reform efforts said Congress must take decisive action to prevent disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill from occurring again.

She said strong legislative reform should

A detailed list of the bills that have been marked up to date is available at www.PewEnvironment.org/OffshoreEnergyReform.