Hunting, Fishing, Conservation Groups Commend Senate for Passing
Farm Bill, Sturdy Conservation Title

Coalition applauds funding for Wetlands, Grassland and Conservation
Reserve Programs, along with new Sodsaver and Open Fields provisions

WASHINGTON – Upon Senate passage of the country's largest package of
agricultural policies, a coalition of organizations dedicated to
growing conservation in the Farm Bill commended the body's leaders
for getting the job done.

"The leadership of both parties deserves credit for artfully
applying the paint of compromise," said Barton James of Ducks
Unlimited, a co-chair of the Agriculture and Wildlife Working Group,
a coalition of the nation's leading hunting, fishing and
conservation organizations. The working group met for the last two
years to analyze the effectiveness of Farm Bill conservation
programs and to issue recommendations for their future. Those
recommendations were encapsulated in a report entitled Growing
Conservation in the Farm Bill.

While noting that the coalition was dissecting the details of
legislation that spans almost two thousand pages, the working group
praised many aspects of the bill passed today.

"For the first time ever, Open Fields and Sodsaver programs are in
both Senate and House versions of the Farm Bill," noted the Theodore
Roosevelt Conservation Partnership's Geoff Mullins. Open Fields,
originally introduced in the Senate by Sens. Kent Conrad and Pat
Roberts, will boost state programs that expand sportsmen's access
and the use of best management practices for fish and wildlife.
Sodsaver discourages the destruction of native prairie lands by
eliminating crop insurance and disaster payments on grasslands
converted to cropland. "We need Open Fields and Sodsaver to be as
strong as possible, and our coalition is looking forward to working
with the conference committee to ensure that they are," said
Mullins.

Another key component of the Senate package is the expansion and
reconfiguration of the Conservation Security Program. Renaming the
program the "Conservation Stewardship Program," the Senate proposes
to raise the program's budget to $2 billion over five years, while
enrolling 13 million acres per year.

"Bolstering CSP has been a priority for Chairman Harkin, and it
looks like he's managed to improve more than the name, including the
way it works on the ground," said Jen Mock Schaeffer of the
Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, a working group co-chair.

Other groups saw positive signs in the refinements made to the
largest Farm Bill conservation program, the Conservation Reserve
Program. "Overall, CRP will be able to continue improving habitat on
39.2 million acres," said Dave Nomsen of Pheasants Forever, the
working group's final co-chair. He continued, "It also includes a
new `Wildlife Habitat Program' from Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss
that by improving stands of pine will stand to improve the success
of species like quail and turkeys."

Two additional initiatives of key importance to fish and wildlife,
the Wetlands Reserve Program and Grassland Reserve Programs, also
receive votes of confidence in the Senate Farm Bill. "The Senate's
reauthorization of both WRP and GRP continues our national
commitment to preserving two fragile ecosystem types," said Brad
Redlin of the Izaak Walton League of America. "The community of
American conservationists applauds them."

The energy title of the bill includes several new incentive programs
to help advance "next generation" biomass energy. "If done right,
biomass energy holds great promise of not only producing more fuel
per acre than corn ethanol, but also of being better for wildlife
and the environment," said Julie Sibbing of the National Wildlife
Federation. "We are thankful to Senators Wyden, Harkin and
Chambliss for forging a last-minute compromise to add protections
for wildlife and habitat to the Biomass Crop Transition Program."

A final bit of welcome news for the coalition was the inclusion of a
permanent extension of expanded tax incentives for conservation
easements that had been approved by Congress on a two-year basis in
August 2006. "With the temporary extension nearing its end, it was
imperative that the Senate kept this incredibly valuable tool in the
conservationist's toolbox," said Russ Shay of the Land Trust
Alliance. "We greatly appreciate the efforts of Senators Max Baucus
and Chuck Grassley to introduce this measure and move it forward."