Written by Aaron Field, Ph.D., Director of Private Lands Conservation, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership; Images by James Wicks
The mixed-bag hunters reading this article have probably heard why they should care about the Farm Bill before. After all, mallards and pheasants spend more time in corn fields than grouse do. So why should the leather-and-canvas wearing, side-by-side carrying, grouse and woodcock hunter care about it?
The Bill Creates and Improves Habitat on Private Land
The bulk of the conservation policy and funding in the Farm Bill impacts private land programs. Approximately 60% of the U.S. – and 58% of all forested land – is privately owned. Depending on where you call home, you may be surrounded with more or less than this average, but no matter where you are, private land management impacts fish and wildlife populations. While most public land in the U.S. are governed by a multiple use mandate, private land are typically managed for a single purpose. This might be timber, crop or livestock production, but could also be recreation or a long-term real estate investment. In any case, wildlife habitat is only part of the equation if the landowner makes a conscious effort to balance their primary purpose with the needs of wildlife. The voluntary, incentive-based programs in the Farm Bill are our best tool to encourage farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to include wildlife in their management plans.
It’s easy to get lost in the multitude of acronyms in any federal initiative, and the Farm Bill is no different, so try to bear with me. Out of dozens of Farm Bill programs, there are a few that most directly affect grouse and woodcock hunters. First, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides cost-share for landowners who make habitat improvements, including creating and improving forest stands. Especially where timber harvest isn’t economically viable, these incentives are often the only way to create the diverse forests grouse and woodcock depend upon.
Another is the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Well known to pheasant hunters for decades, the CRP provides cost-share and rental payments to landowners who convert degraded and degrading cropland to perennial cover, including forests and wetlands, and keep that cover in place for 10 years or more. Although most CRP enrollment is centered in grassland states, this program has tremendous potential for ruffed grouse and woodcock, especially in the southern grouse range.
The Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) is newer than the CRP or EQIP, but has already made a positive impact on wildlife habitat. The RCPP leverages federal investments and expertise to support regionally impactful projects led by state and local governments or nonprofit organizations, including RGS & AWS. One example is a project RGS & AWS partnered on in northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, which focused on creating early successional forest habitat for at-risk species like golden-winged warblers, not to mention the king of game birds.
The Bill Creates Access
Lack of access to land or water is one of the biggest barriers hunters face. We all know the value of public land, but there’s a real need to encourage access to private land as well, especially in states where the land is primarily in private ownership. The Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program (VPA-HIP) is the only federal program designed to support hunting and fishing access on private lands. Using the same voluntary, incentive-based model as the programs already discussed, VPA-HIP provides grants to state wildlife agencies for their locally designed hunter access programs, creating new hunting areas and knitting together existing accessible parcels. If you’ve hunted a Walk-In Area in Minnesota, a Hunting Access Program property in Michigan or a Public Access Lands for Sportsmen property in Virginia, you’ve seen what VPA-HIP can do.
The Bill Impacts Public Forest Management
Although the bulk of the Farm Bill’s conservation funding goes to private land, much of the policy impacting the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) comes from the Farm Bill. The USFS manages nearly 20% of the forested land in the U.S. 145 million acres is nothing to sneeze at, and the Farm Bill helps determine how that land is managed. One key forestry provision is the Good Neighbor Authority (GNA), which allows states to extend their forest management activities onto USFS land. Although primarily intended for wildlife protection, GNA can also be used to improve wildlife habitat on federal lands. Another is stewardship agreements, which allows the USFS to leverage federal dollars with partners to have a bigger management impact. RGS & AWS have used this type of agreement to create hunter walking trails and blocks of early successional habitat in the Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota.
How Can RGS & AWS Members Become Involved?
There are several ways you can help make sure these programs keep creating habitat and access. Let’s go through a few, from the simplest to the most involved.
1. Join a wildlife conservation organization.
As an RGS & AWS member, you’re already helping to advocate for a strong Farm Bill for wildlife. Individually, and through partnerships with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP), RGS & AWS staff act as important subject matter experts who help determine what’s working well in these programs and what needs improvement. Your membership helps make sure these experts are available and lends strength to their voice.
2. Educate yourself further.
What you’ve just read is a very, very surface level overview of how the Farm Bill impacts wildlife and hunters. Learn more about the Farm Bill by visiting TRCP.org/Farm-Bill for a Farm Bill primer tailored to hunters and anglers.
3. Take action.
This can be as simple as signing on to an existing action alert hosted by RGS & AWS, TRCP or another organization you trust. There’s strength in large numbers sharing the same message, and these organizations are skilled at crafting a message that gets the details right. One of the biggest impacts you can have is through calling your elected officials, especially in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and telling them it’s important to you as a hunter conservationist that they pass a strong Farm Bill for habitat and access.
