Conservation Practices in Agriculturally Dominated Landscapes
Agricultural land use accounts for over 50 percent of the surface area of the contiguous United States. How these lands are managed has direct and indirect implications for wildlife, water quality, and air quality in terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems locally and far beyond their extent. This project is focused on ways to greater maximize the potential of the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), as well as other land conservation programs, to benefit wildlife and the agrarian community by means that are acceptable to all interested parties.
A multi-state (14), multi-regional cooperative effort between USDA and FORT seeks to improve Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) benefit estimates by conducting on-site assessments of fields (~3,000) currently and previously enrolled in the program.
FORT researchers furnish USDA with information evaluating which CRP conservation practices are successfully implemented, which are providing expected benefits for wildlife, and which are persisting after formal contracts have expired.
FORT researchers also developed a rapid assessment tool to assess wildlife habitat, soil erosion, and adherence to practice requirements that is essential for making estimates of benefits accurate and defensible.
More accurate and defensible estimates of the benefits generated by CRP strengthen the case for the 23.5-million-acre program and provide a basis for making policy changes that improve it.
Agricultural land use accounts for over 50 percent of the surface area of the contiguous United States. How these lands are managed has direct and indirect implications for wildlife, water quality, and air quality in terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems locally and far beyond their extent. This project is focused on ways to greater maximize the potential of the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), as well as other land conservation programs, to benefit wildlife and the agrarian community by means that are acceptable to all interested parties.
A multi-state (14), multi-regional cooperative effort between USDA and FORT seeks to improve Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) benefit estimates by conducting on-site assessments of fields (~3,000) currently and previously enrolled in the program.
FORT researchers furnish USDA with information evaluating which CRP conservation practices are successfully implemented, which are providing expected benefits for wildlife, and which are persisting after formal contracts have expired.
FORT researchers also developed a rapid assessment tool to assess wildlife habitat, soil erosion, and adherence to practice requirements that is essential for making estimates of benefits accurate and defensible.
More accurate and defensible estimates of the benefits generated by CRP strengthen the case for the 23.5-million-acre program and provide a basis for making policy changes that improve it.