By Cookson Beecher, The Capital Press , 7/28/2000
Washington farmers who enroll in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program will receive more money than originally offered, thanks to recent changes.
Among those changes are better rental rates, higher maintenance cost-share payments and an up-front incentive payment.
The changes, which went into effect July 19, were added to the program to entice more farmers to enroll.
Under CREP, landowners receive rental payments for 10 to 15 years to restore and maintain buffers along fish-recovery waterways. The payments are based on the soil type in the buffer zone.
The size of the buffer is based on 75 percent of the potential height of a site-specific tree. In Western Washington that could range from 100 to 150 feet. In Eastern Washington, it can range from 60 to 90 feet
A voluntary program, CREP's goal is to restore 100,000 acres along 3,000 miles of waterways in order to boost declining fish populations.
When Gov. Gary Locke and USDA Secretary Dan Glickman signed the agreement last spring, they hailed the program as a key component of the state's salmon recovery plan.
"It's a good deal for the farmer, it's a good deal for the fish, and it works for the state and federal government as well," Glickman said.
But in spite of those hopes, signups for the program have been low. This spring, the Farm Service Agency reported that only 13 Washington farmers had signed contracts.
Government officials hope the added benefits will spur more people to sign up.
Here are the changes that have been adopted for Washington:
Rental rates will be increased - from 150 to 200 percent of typical lease rates based on soil type.
There is a new up-front signing incentive of $10 per acre per year. Since most of the contracts are for 15 years, this will usually add up to an up-front payment of $150 per acre.
The state and federal government will cost-share 100 percent of the costs to install the buffers - up from 87.5 percent. Installation includes site preparation, plants, planting, fen@ and livestock watering.
Sixty percent of the cost of installing the buffer will be paid once the buffer has been planted, and the other 40 percent will go to the landowner once the local Conservation District has verified that the entire conservation plan was installed according to the conservation contract the property owner signed.
The state will pay 100 percent of the cost of maintaining plants in the buffer for the first five years - up from $5 per acre per year.
"We realize its difficult to get buffers established when there's a lot of competition from invasive species like blackberries and reed canary grass," said Chris Bieker outreach coordinator tor for Farm Service Agency.
If drought, wildlife damage or other events beyond a landowner's control should damage or destroy any of the trees or vegetation planted in the buffer, the landowner will receive 60 percent of replacement costs.
Maximum buffer widths have been increased from 150 to 180 feet. Since participants are allowed to make parts of their buffer narrower than the required buffer width as long as they make other parts wider, the expanded maximum buffer width allows for more flexibility in designing a buffer.
Local people will have more authority to nominate streams for eligibility in the program. The Washington State Conservation Commission and the FSA will make the final decision after consulting with fisheries biologists.
Bieker said this is expected to make more downriver sections of waterways eligible for the program.
While the signing and the implementation incentives are nationwide changes, the increased soil rental rate and maintenance cost-share payments are unique to Washington state, said Bieker, adding that each state has different programs.
As for those who have already signed up, the signing incentive and the maintenance cost share are retroactive, but the soil rental rates are not.
Bieker said that a number of landowners have begun applications for the program but were waiting to see what the changes would be. The agency will be contacting those people to see if they're still interested in enrolling for the program.
"We're hoping to see a big difference in signups," said Bieker.
When explaining the importance of this program to salmon recovery efforts, she said much of the land along fish-recovery waterways is privately held.
"A lot of fish recovery takes place on private land," she said. "We are hoping landowners will show that voluntary programs and incentives will work. We want to see this approach work on private land."
Although many farmers are waiting for the Agriculture, Fish and Water negotiations to decide on buffer widths before they sign up for the program, Bieker said that the Farm Service Agency had asked the National Marine Fisheries Service for assurances that CREP would meet the requirements of fish recovery.
'We did get assurances that the program would satisfy them," she said.
For more information, contact local Conservation District offices or by calling Rod Hamilton, director of the Washington program, at (509) 323-3015.
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