Excerpt
A model Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contract. That's how one might describe Lee Berry's land in central Montana. Berry is a landowner with an eye to the future. His 445 acres, enrolled in the CRP in 1988, now provide optimal values for soil erosion control and wildlife habitat.
Seeding the recommended mix of three wheatgrasses, alfalfa, and clover, Berry also planted nearly 24,000 feet of tree rowsmore than 4,400 trees. At a county tour held during the fall of 1989, county commissioners, conservation district supervisors, and other local agency personnel saw firsthand what it takes to successfully establish CRP cover. At a stop on the Berry h, tour delegates were duly impressed when several walked into a seven-foot-high clover and grass field resembling a willow thicket and disappeared from view. With assistance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), three ponds were constructed and food plots were added. The diversity of habitat has resulted in phenomenal changes in the wildlife species present and their populations.
Opportunities aplenty
The 1985 fann bill's CRP has provided excellent opportunities for the management of natural resources on private land. Federal and state agencies have taken this opportunity …
Footnotes
Ted Hawn is a district conservationist with the Soil Conservation Service, Lewistown, Montana 59457, and Mike Getman is assistant refuge manager, Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge, US. Fish and Wildlige Service, Lewistown, Montana 59457.
- Copyright 1992 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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