A dragonfly rests on a blade of prairie grass in western South Dakota. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, introduced legislation recently to improve a federal conservation program with changes including a higher maximum annual payment for landowners.
The Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers and ranchers to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and maintain grass, trees and other plant species on enrolled acres, which helps prevent soil erosion, filters runoff that enters waterways, and establishes habitat for wildlife. Landowners may be allowed to conduct livestock grazing, haying and seed-harvesting on the land.
“I’m proud to lead this commonsense legislation that would help advance the multiple-use benefits of this conservation program, including wildlife habitat and livestock forage potential,” said Thune, a Republican, in a news release.
The Conservation Reserve Program Improvement and Flexibility Act was introduced by Thune, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, and Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minnesota.
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The bill would increase the annual payment limitation from $50,000, which was established in 1985, to $125,000 to account for inflation and rising land values. It would also provide cost-share funds for the establishment of grazing infrastructure, like fencing and water tanks, on all contracts where grazing is included in the approved conservation plan; expand a program that helps landowners plant trees and create wetlands on enrolled acres; and more easily allow enrolled acres to be hayed in drought conditions.
“When land sits idle, it doesn’t just go unused, it declines, and so do the small towns and rural communities that depend on active land management,” said Warren Symens, president of the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association, in the news release.
Wildlife conservation groups praised the bill as well, anticipating the changes would result in more acres enrolled in the program. Andrew Schmidt, director of government affairs for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, said in the news release that the bill “will make this critical program work better for farmers, ranchers, rural communities, and wildlife.”
As of last year, Conservation Reserve Program contracts encompassed nearly 2.4 million acres in South Dakota. Annual program payments in South Dakota totaled $137 million, with an average payment per acre of $57.40.