Waterfowl populations in peril

By Chuck Petrie


Farm programs key to waterfowl population rebound may face extinction
Ducks Unlimited Special Report

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) are widely heralded as two of the most successful federal wildlife habitat conservation programs in United States history, conserving millions of acres of critical wildlife habitat. But as successful as these programs have proven themselves, they are at risk of being shut down.

Without your help, they face imminent legislative extinction. Ducks Unlimited, working closely with the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation and more than 25 other wildlife conservation organizations and the state wildlife agencies recently mobilized to form an unprecedented conservation coalition to petition Congress for these programs' reauthorization and expansion. What follows is background information on CRP, WRP, and other invaluable habitat programs, and how you can help them win congressional approval.

About every five years, the U.S. Congress takes a close look at the federal agriculture programs that affect farming, ranching, and forestry across the United States. When you combine all of the various programs, you end up with what is commonly referred to as the Farm Bill. The Farm Bill debate is heating up in our nation's capital, and Ducks Unlimited staff, members, and volunteers are working to ensure that wetlands and waterfowl conservation programs like CRP and WRP, and the proposed Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP) receive adequate funding to put waterfowl and wildlife habitat on the ground, across the nation.

From 1992 to 1997, scientists estimated CRP habitat in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota contributed 10.5 million new ducks to the fall flight. CRP's sister program, WRP, has permanently restored hundreds of thousands of acres of wetlands formerly converted to agricultural use, providing refuge and food sorely needed by waterfowl and other wetland-dependent species. CRP was established by Congress as part of the 1985 Food Security Act (Farm Bill).

The legislation's intent was to provide a financial incentive to farmers to idle highly erodible cropland and plant it to perennial grasses and other vegetation that would reduce soil erosion. Under the program, eligible land is enrolled into 10- or 15-year contracts, and the participating farmers are paid an annual rental fee dependent upon the agricultural value of the acres they enroll. The program has not only had resounding soil and water conservation benefits, it has also boosted a depressed farm economy, and provided superb wildlife habitat.

When CRP was originally established, Congress authorized an enrollment of up to 45 million acres. That ceiling was later reduced to 36.4 million acres, most of which now have been completely enrolled. How valuable has CRP been to waterfowl? Just the 5 million acres of grasslands that have been restored in the Prairie Pothole Region of the U.S. through CRP-coupled with wetland conservation efforts of Ducks Unlimited, state agencies, thousands of private landowners, foundations, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)-have allowed waterfowl populations to rebound to historic levels following the return of precipitation to the prairies in 1993. Across the border in Canada, the rebound has been much less dramatic due to a lack of wetland and grassland protection programs.

Current surveys show that 25 percent of this continent's waterfowl are now breeding in the U.S. prairies, compared to the historic average of 14 percent, and that these birds are producing as many young in the fall flight each year as their counterparts on the Canadian prairies, where the number of breeding waterfowl has declined to 26 percent from an historic average of 34 percent. (Canada still produces the majority of the fall flight because of the large numbers of ducks that are raised in its western boreal forest.) So, waterfowl enthusiasts from north to south, east to west, and everywhere in between have a big stake in the CRP issue. These figures dramatically demonstrate the success of the CRP in the U.S., but this habitat is far from secure. CRP acres are only covered by 10- or 15-year contracts, and many of those 5 million acres will likely eventually be returned to croplands if and when the program expires, which it is scheduled to do on September 30, 2002. The good news is that many of the farmers that are currently enrolled in CRP would re-enroll in the program if they were given the chance.

Prairie potholes and other small wetlands on the prairies and elsewhere are increasingly threatened as a result of the recent disappointing Supreme Court decision that removed Corps of Engineers enforcement jurisdiction over the filling of isolated wetlands under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, and wetlands also continue to be threatened by possible NRCS rule changes to the Swampbuster provision of the Farm Bill. Isolated wetlands are some of the best duck-producing habitat on the continent. Unfortunately, lacking other protection, such as could potentially be afforded them by the incentive-based CRP and WRP, much of this high-quality habitat may disappear forever.

CRP's sister program, WRP, was originated by Congress in 1990. The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service administers WRP. WRP helps farmers restore prior converted wetlands from marginal crop production back to wetland habitat and protect it. Many of these areas are original bottomland hardwood forests and associated floodplain wetlands located on private lands. Under WRP, participating landowners enroll acreage into long-term (most are perpetual) conservation easements, for which they receive a fee, and then receive partial reimbursement expenses for costs associated with habitat restoration. WRP projects have benefited wildlife and landowners in all states except Alaska.

WRP restoration projects have taken place from California to New York and Washington to Florida, but the program's largest impact has been in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV), where bottomland hardwood forests once covered 24 million acres in the floodplain of the Mississippi River in seven states-the major portion of the area known as the Mississippi Delta. Today, however, only about 5 million acres of bottomland hardwood forest remain.

Years of flood control and drainage have dried out much of the waterfowl habitat that existed 75 years ago in the Delta. Natural flooding of any habitat, cropland or forested, now occurs less frequently, covers fewer acres, and is of shorter duration. Consequently, wintering and migrating waterfowl are relying more on managed waterfowl habitat provided on public lands, and a very large proportion depend on flooded farmlands. Unfortunately, the flooded farmlands are subject to the vagaries of world commodity markets and there is no assurance that they will remain in waterfowl-friendly crops.

There are major threats, for example, with the decline of the rice industry in Texas and Louisiana, where many areas are being converted to pasture and sugar cane, which waterfowl can't utilize. Public waterfowl habitat is more secure, but not adequate to support the numbers of waterfowl at the goals of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) for the recovery of waterfowl populations to 1970s levels. NAWMP designates the LMAV as one of the seven highest habitat priority regions in North America. Ducks Unlimited's new International Conservation Plan ranks it as one of the five most important waterfowl habitats of the North American continent.

Today, more than 300,000 acres of habitat have been enrolled in WRP in the LMAV, making WRP the largest wetland restoration effort ever to take place in this crucial waterfowl wintering area. A major portion of that acreage has been, or will be, restored with the assistance of Ducks Unlimited under the Restoring the Delta Initiative. But beyond LMAV, WRP is a valuable component of wetland restoration in other areas, and Ducks Unlimited has helped farmers complete WRP restoration work in more than 20 states nationwide.

For all the benefits man and wildlife have reaped from CRP and WRP, the future of both programs remains in doubt. CRP enrollments have reached their current cap of 36.4 million acres; WRP enrollments have reached their current cap of 1.8 million acres. Effectively, WRP is fully subscribed, and CRP, unless it is reauthorized by Congress, will disappear as the remaining amount of time on existing 10- and 15-year contracts expires. Should these programs terminate, the resulting large-scale loss of the current base of wetlands and grasslands would greatly reduce the potential of waterfowl (and other wildlife) populations to respond to favorable water conditions, and it would greatly suppress North America's duck population. 

Which is why Ducks Unlimited is especially concerned about these programs and is requesting Congress to do the following:

Establish a Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP), authorizing up to 5 million acres for enrollment.