Sportsmen Welcome New Access Incentive in Conservation Reserve Program

News for Immediate Release
October 3, 2008
Contact: Geoff Mullins,202-654-4609, gmullins@trcp.org

Sportsmen Welcome New Access Incentive

in Conservation Reserve Program

Huntersand anglers encouraged by increased attention to sporting traditions,

hopingthat other access initiatives receive similar boost

WASHINGTON – The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership welcomedtoday’s announcement by Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer that up to 7million acres of land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program would bemade eligible for increased incentives if landowners allow public hunting andfishing access on them.

“Thismove is a great first step toward reinvigorating America’s traditions of hunting andangling, which decline every time another piece of land is developed or placedoff-limits to sportsmen,” said Geoff Mullins,a TRCP initiative manager. “We hope thatthe recent USDA attention to the need to promote sportsmen’s access carriesover to Open Fields, a new program created by the recently passed Farm Billthat would receive zero funding in the administration’s current budget requestto Congress.”

TheConservation Reserve Program is the largest program in the Farm BillConservation Title, which represents our country’s single largest overall investmentin fish and wildlife habitat on private lands.

The CRP public access incentive will permit partnerships with existing statepublic access programs to identify and mark tracts of land as publiclyaccessible and publish maps for hunters and recreation enthusiasts. Theincentive is consistent with current state public access incentives and willenhance the ability of state game departments to use hunting seasons as awildlife management tool.

The CRP public access incentive will be limited to CRP participants in the21 states that already have public access programs. These 21 states are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming.

“Thisnew incentive provides an excellent illustration of ways in which the federalgovernment can team with state wildlife agencies to advance the cause ofsportsmen,” Mullins said. “It should first be applauded, then replicated.”

Inspired by the legacy of TheodoreRoosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations and grassroots partnersworking together to preserve the traditions of hunting and fishing.