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saia. its easy to say, 1 aont want it.’ But once you sit down with the [financial] numbers, it’s a different story.”
Wichelns said he thinks some farmers are concerned about having to change their strategies for using their land if they implement CREP practices.
“Those that say it takes land away from grazing are correct,” said Rifaat, who added that her cattle have also lost access to most of her shade trees along stream banks.
“You are trading something,” she said. “And for me the loss of shade is the biggest thing, because in the summer that’s where [the cattle] sit.”
Wichelns added that, for some farmers, it may seem counterintuitive to replant the forests that their ancestors worked to convert to pastures or cropland. Other people, he said, simply prefer to keep their land manicured or do not believe their livestock cause pollution.
Rifaat also pointed out that many farmers in Rappahannock County rent their land and therefore do not have the authority to enroll their farmland in CREP. Landowners may be living in another area and not have an interest in or understanding of conservation, she said.
End of the road?
Applications for CREP, which began in 2000 as an offshoot of the Conservation Reserve Program, will stop being accepted on Dec. 31, 2007. And so far, no proposals have been made to renew it.
Contracts made through CREP will be honored to the end of their 10- or 15-year agreements, but no new contracts will be signed after 2007.
With an initial budget of $91 million in federal and state funds, CREP is the Commonwealth’s highest funded conservation program ever.
“I would be very surprised if the state and federal government put in all this investment and did not renew it,” Wichelns said.
But he added, “Right now, it’s safe to say that CREP may not continue.”
Wichelns said other state and federal programs provide financial incentives for conserving riparian buffers, but CREP is the only program that offers rental payments.
He said there is no waiting list for landowners who want to sign up for the program.
“If there are people who want to explore [CREP], they should get moving on it,” Wichelns said.
E-mail the reporter at kallen@timespapers.com
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