The Conservation Reserve Program: Planting for the future. Proceedings of a National Conference, Fort Collins, Colorado, June 6-9, 2004

Abstract

In June 2004 the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), with support from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), held a three-day symposium on the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in Fort Collins, Colorado. These proceedings contain papers by most of those who made presentations at the symposium, but some were unable to provide written papers. This shortcoming has been addressed in part by addition of papers presenting information on prairie grouse response to the CRP, long-term trends in Southern Plains CRP grassland vegetation, and discussion of FSA support of an investigation to regionally refine management of CRP grasslands to address ecological conditions in the short-grass prairie region. Each person attending the conference was requested to fill out a questionnaire to obtain information about how the future of the CRP should be directed and major issues of concern about how the program has and could be managed. Appendix A provides results and discussion of the questionnaire. Appendix B presents information prepared by the FSA on historical and current distribution and enrollment in the CRP. A list of those who attended and participated in the conference is furnished in Appendix C. Contrary to conventions in most USGS publications and current scientific literature, measures of area and length in this publication are generally presented in acres or miles rather than metric measures (e.g., hectares, kilometers). This approach was adopted because townships, sections, and acres define the United States landscape and are the units of measure upon which management of agricultural lands in this nation is based. Unless noted otherwise, the authors of the respective chapters provided all photographs and figures presented in this document. The findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this document are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the USGS.