Number: 1992-21
WHEREAS, conservationists across the country have worked closely with farmers under the Conservation Reserve Program of the 1985 and 1990 Farm Bills (CRP) to establish and maintain vegetative cover to reduce soil erosion, improve water quality and benefit wildlife; and
WHEREAS, current law authorizes farmers to graze and hay CRP acres during drought emergencies; and
WHEREAS, the impacts to wildlife and water quality and the attendant soil erosion that result from haying and grazing CRP acres during drought emergencies can be significant; and
WHEREAS, many areas declared drought emergencies are already intensively farmed, environmentally stressed and are limited in wildlife cover;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in annual meeting assembled March 19-22, 1992, in Portland, Oregon, urges Congress to evaluate the impacts that CRP drought emergency haying and grazing practices are having on the nation’s fish and wildlife resources, soils and water quality; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this evaluation address how CRP drought emergency practices contribute to, or detract from, attaining the goals of soil erosion reduction pursuant to the 1990 Farm Bill; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this study provide the basis for reforming CRP drought emergency haying and grazing policies should these practices be found to contravene and undermine the overall goals and objectives of the CRP program.