Strategies for Success: Using Conservation Programs 
to Protect Resources and Diversity

Much work has been done nationwide to identify critical priorities for conservation. This work includes state, local and regional habitat plans, nutrient management and hypoxia reduction plans, and comprehensive natural resource planning efforts. Many of these efforts have identified private lands and agricultural practices as important components of protecting biological diversity and improving environmental quality.

The suite of conservation programs in the 2002 Farm Bill offer the opportunity to make great strides in meeting America’s need to protect wildlife, restore wetlands, improve water air and quality and protect working farmland from urban sprawl.

The following is a sample of the needs identified in various habitat and natural resource planning exercises. Producers and resource managers alike can use these plans to best utilize the programs in the 2002 Farm Bill.

Protecting rare species, and preventing species from becoming imperilled, can be a daunting task. The federal government has tools like the Endangered Species Act, but even this very important law is limited in its ability to provide incentives to private landowners, and it only protects species that have been listed – not the full array of species that are in decline or facing threats.

A number of states and localities have begun to assess their biological diversity, and are determining what habitats need to be protected in order to conserve a maximum number of species in their native habitats. To find out if a plan has been completed or is underway in your states, you can consult the Biodiversity Partners Index. The Nature Conservancy is also developing plans based on ecoregions rather than state boundaries. Many of these are available at the ConserveOnline Conservation Library.

Here are a few examples of how Farm Bill conservation programs, such as WHIP, EQIP, WRP, GRP, CSP and forestry programs, can be harnessed to protect biological diversity:

A joint partnership of Defenders of Wildlife, the Nature Conservancy and the Oregon Natural Heritage Program has identified 42 Conservation Opportunity Areas within the state. The project recommends conservation partnerships with private landowners on agricultural, forest and range lands in the Nestucca River Watershed, Tillamook Bay Watershed, the Vida area, the North Wasco area, Baker Valley, the Picture Gorge area, the Clarno area, the Lower Umatilla River area, the West Eugene wetlands and the Willamette River floodplain. For more information, see Biodiversity Partners Publications.

Florida's Game & Freshwater Fish Commission’s Closing the Gaps Project estimates that in order to conserve the state's range of biodiversity (including 30 species not adequately protected by the existing conservation network, 105 globally rare plant species, eight species of wading birds, and several ecologically important habitat types) 4.82 million acres of the state would need to be added to the current conservation network. This acreage includes 474,000 acres of agricultural and grasslands, 398,800 acres of prairie, 494,00 acres of upland forests and 1.98 million acres of wetlands. Estimated cost of purchasing all necessary acreage is $5.7 billion (1994 dollars). However, much of this land is in silviculture or rangeland and can be placed in conservation status through voluntary landowner agreements. The authors "recommend that acquisition of conservation easements and land-use agreements be the primary method applied to some of the [proposed conservation areas]" and recognize that "certain agricultural activities such as low-intensity rangeland and timber operations" will be compatible with conservation on some of these lands.

The Massachusetts Biomap Project was developed "to identify the areas most in need of protection in order to protect the native biodiversity of the Commonwealth." This project revealed that Massachusetts needs to conserve nearly 1.4 million acres of core reserves and supporting adjacent natural landscape in order to preserve the full complement of the state’s plants, animals and natural communities. A companion project, the Aquatic Biodiversity Project, is assessing and mapping aquatic habitats for their biodiversity values.

State, local, federal, tribal and private interests worked together to draft the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, a long-term strategy for conserving the unique natural values of Pima County, Arizona. The plan identified as priorities the conservation of 1.2 million acres of ranchland, by purchase of development rights, adoption of sustainable grazing practices, grass banking, and conservation designations on low-density grazing lands – all of which can be undertaken through Farm Bill programs. Other priorities of the plan which can be addressed by Farm Bill programs include protection and restoration of riparian areas and protection of habitats for a wide variety of imperilled wildlife species, including 9 mammals, 8 birds, 7 reptiles, 7 plants, 6 fish, 2 amphibians, and invertebrates.

Another area where farm programs can help improve the environment is water quality. Programs like EQIP, WRP, continuous CRP and CSP give farmers the tools to protect freshwater and coastal resources by improving nutrient management, restoring wetlands and creating riparian buffers. Projects virtually anywhere in the country can locally improve water quality. There are also regional plans that provide recommendations for addressing hypoxia, a condition of oxygen depletion that affects several waterways that are important commercial and recreational fisheries. Since one of the causes of hypoxia is excess nutrient input from agriculture, programs that help keep fertilizers out of waterways are an important method of protecting offshore resources and economies.

The Chesapeake 2000 agreement, Keeping our Commitment, commits states in the Bay watershed to permanently protect 20% of the land area from development by 2010. To date, 6.7 million acres have been protected, but 1.1 million acres still need to be preserved. The report emphasizes the importance of federal, state, local and private partnerships in conserving this land area, and the need for a flexible suite of protection options. The three states highlighted in the report (PA, MD and VA) have used and expect to continue using the WRP, Forest Legacy, Farmland Protection Program and the Urban Forestry Program to accomplish these conservation goals.

The Environmental Protection Agency in January of 2001 presented to Congress its Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. The primary objective of this plan is to reduce the watershed’s load of nitrogen, which causes excess algal growth and a drop in available oxygen. This report and a similar one from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration call for reducing nitrogen load include improving farm management practices to reduce agricultural nitrogen release, and the creation and restoration of 5 to 13 million acres of wetlands and 19 to 48 million acres of riparian bottomland forest to intercept agricultural drainage. Producers in the Mississippi River watershed may be able to utilize EQIP, CRP, WRP and Agricultural Extension programs to reduce nutrient flow and to restore and enhance wetlands.

The CAL-FED Bay-Delta Program is a state and federal partnership to restore water quality to the San Francisco Bay watershed, which includes the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and includes 7 million acres of agricultural land, where 45% of the nation’s fruits and vegetables are grown. The program’s goals of restoring water quality and riparian habitat through acquisition, easements, and structural improvements fall under the auspices of EQIP, WRP, WHIP, CRP and CREP. Another California initiative, The California Continuing Resources Investment Strategy Project.

(CCRISP), is in the process of identifying a statewide resource conservation strategy. Among the issues identified include the need to preserve 800,000 to 1.8 million acres of wildlife habitat; permanently protecting farmland, which is being lost at a rate of 50,000 acres per year; protecting and restoring wetlands, which have declined by 90% in the state; and preserving forest lands. WHIP, FPP, WRP and agricultural forestry programs will be important in helping California reach these resources protection objectives.

These are just a few examples of identified conservation needs that can be addressed by programs in the 2002 Farm Bill. Contact your local NRCS representative or conservation district office if you believe that conservation measures on your land could address one or more of these priorities, or to find out what other measures you might be able to take.