Budget change worries bird hunters

Conservation Reserve acreage may dwindle

By JIM MANN The Daily Inter Lake

Many Flathead Valley bird hunters travel far across the Continental Divide to the east side where open fields and birds are plenty.

But a federal program that played a big part in creating those conditions is on the ropes. The Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers to grow cover crops such as wheatgrass to curb erosion on fallow ground.

The proposed 2008 federal budget calls for no new Conservation Reserve contracts, a change that's expected to have lasting effects, even if the program eventually is resumed.

It's a situation that has Flathead Valley bird hunters concerned.

"For Montana upland bird hunters, habitat protected by CRP is absolutely critical," said Tom Greiner, chairman of the Flathead Chapter of Ducks Unlimited. "CRP has been a great partnership between the family farmers and Montana hunters and pays benefits for all Americans. Any threat to CRP is a threat to Montana's hunting heritage and must be stopped."

Ryan Busse grew up on a western Kansas farm, with his father being one of the first to enroll in the Conservation Reserve Program just over 20 years ago.

Busse said he travels to the Hi-Line's Glacier, Toole and Liberty counties "just about every weekend" from Sept. 10 to Nov. 10.

"That's just my passion," he said. "I just love to chase bird dogs in big open country."

And the benefits of Conservation Reserve land are unmistakable, he adds.

"If the best hunting is not on CRP land, it's near it. That's what I've noticed," Busse said.

Besides noticing healthy bird populations, Busse said he typically sees plenty of fellow Flathead hunters east of the divide.

"Anytime you go over there, at least half the vehicles seem to have '7' tags on them," he said, referring to Flathead County's license-plate number.

The best CRP fields are planted with forbs and grasses that provide excellent nesting habitat and good cover for pheasants, sharptail grouse and Hungarian partridges.

"In terms of habitat, CRP is huge," said Rick Northrup, Montana's chief upland bird manager. "From a landscape level impact, especially on the Hi-Line, it has positive impacts that a statewide agency like Fish, Wildlife and Parks could never begin to duplicate."

Montana farmers currently have 3.4 million acres enrolled in Conservation Reserve contracts. According to the conservation group, Pheasants Forever, the proposed budget calls for no new enrollments in 2007 and 2008, a change that is expected to result in the loss of at least 3 million acres this year and an additional 34 million acres by the end of 2008.

Northrup said that in Montana, contracts will expire for about 634,000 acres this year and 200,000 acres next year. If the policy continues, contracts will expire for 324,000 acres in 2009, 410,000 acres in 2010 and 484,000 acres in 2011. That means contracts on roughly two-thirds of the currently enrolled acres in Montana will expire within five years.

"It's a pretty big deal," Northrup said. "Probably the overwhelming majority of these acres, if [farmers] can't re-enroll, will go back into crop production," Northrup said.

While crop land can still serve as bird habitat, the loss of CRP land will amount to a "substantial reduction" in nesting cover, Northrup said.

Northrup estimates Montana produces 40 to 60 percent more upland birds with CRP than it did prior to the program's introduction.

If the federal budget is passed with no money for CRP, Northrup said, the state will make an effort to encourage farmers to put expired CRP acres into grazing management rather than crop production.

But that could be a tall order for farmers to pursue.

"Sometimes it's pretty expensive to take former cropland and put it into grazing management," Northrup conceded.

The better alternative for Northrup, Greiner and Busse is that Congress can restore the program as the budget process continues in Washington, D.C.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com