Minnesota is a state covered with forestry, dotted with lakes, and populated by wildlife. It’s like one big backyard, with a great river running right down the middle. We’re fortunate to live in this type of environment, and enjoying the outdoors is a long-standing tradition for Minnesotans. It’s been held for generations because we all share a common interest in maintaining and enhancing our land, rivers, lakes, and wildlife.
To do this, it is important to strengthen our conservation efforts. I was pleased to be part of President Bush’s recent announcement of several major conservation initiatives, unveiled at the Katzenmeyer Farm in Le Sueur, Minnesota. The President announced that USDA will offer early re-enrollment and contract extensions of existing CRP acreage, initiated a plan to ensure CRP farmlands scheduled to expire between 2007 and 2010 remain protected, and announced a general sign-up of 800,000 acres under CRP from August 30 to September 24, 2004. CRP has already strengthened wildlife habitat and has increased populations of birds, fish, and many other wildlife species. Studies show that an increase of the duck population by 2.1 million each year is attributable to CRP. Pheasant populations are at or near record high levels in many Midwestern states. The President also announced the Non-Floodplain Wetland Restoration Initiative to encourage landowners to enroll 250,000 acres of small prairie pothole wetlands located outside the 100-year floodplain. Restoring these wetlands will provide vital habitat for many wildlife species, such as ducks, pheasants, and sandhill cranes; filter runoff; recharge groundwater supplies; protect drinking water; and reduce downstream flooding.
CRP and WRP are only effective if they can be implemented on the ground, which is why the 2002 Farm Bill made providing technical assistance a priority. Unfortunately, the bureaucracy in Washington got it wrong on a technicality, which has resulted in funding uncertainty for CRP and WRP technical assistance. I was pleased to work with Pheasants Forever and my colleagues in the Senate to fix this problem in the 2005 budget, and I will continue to work to ensure CRP and WRP receive the technical assistance they need to be effective in the appropriations process this year. With 1.7 million acres of CRP land in Minnesota, successfully resolving this issue must be a top priority. Since 1982, CRP has reduced soil erosion by over 440 million tons every year on 34 million acres, there has been over 16 million metric tons of carbon sequestration taking place every year, over 3.2 million acres of wildlife habitat has been established, nitrogen application has been reduced by 681,000 tons, phosphorus application has been reduced by 104,000 tons, and 2.7 million acres of trees have been planted. Too much is at stake to compromise the success of this critical program based on a technicality.
The North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) is a priority of mine, and I am pleased that President Bush has proposed $54 million this year for its provisions, a $16.5 million increase over this year’s funding level. I will work with my Senate colleagues and outdoorsmen in working toward the President’s request this year. Established in 1989 to conserve North American wetland ecosystems and waterfowl and the other migratory birds and fish and wildlife that depend on these habitats, NAWCA provides matching grants for wetlands conservation projects in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. More than $589 million has been invested under NAWCA, while private partners have contributed $1.7 billion. Over the past two years, Minnesota has received a total of $13.7 million - $3.1 million in grants and $10.6 million from partners. NAWCA has benefited approximately 21 million acres of wetlands and associated uplands. Over the past two years, 10 projects in Minnesota have acquired 7,523 acres, restored 9,613 acres, and enhanced 2,422 acres. And through NAWCA, we’re making progress on waterfowl habitat, helping to increase bird populations. However, we have much more to do to improve and enhance duck hunting in Minnesota.
The Mississippi River is one of our state’s greatest assets. To bring people together to promote and protect its valuable resources, this year I co-founded the bipartisan Senate Mississippi River Task Force. One of the main goals of the task force is to restore habitat along the river. An important step in accomplishing this is to fully fund the Environmental Management Program (EMP), a program specifically created to restore critical habitat and to monitor the ecosystem of the Upper Mississippi River.
Along with the Mississippi, the 5.8 million acres that make up the Chippewa and Superior National Forests across northeastern Minnesota are of particular concern to me. In December 2003, the Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA) was signed into law, a solid piece of legislation that I strongly supported and one that will protect Minnesota’s forests. HFRA will better enable forest managers across the country to prevent future disasters by removing barriers that discourage cooperation, as well as allow Minnesota’s DNR to actively prevent insect infestation and disease from destroying our forests. The nation’s forests are living systems and we have to restore, manage, and protect them. I am pleased that the legislation accomplishes this and it does so in a way that involves the public throughout the process. These principles will not only help to reduce wildfires - they will ensure that we have clean air and water, quality fish and wildlife resources, and strong communities for generations to come.
Protecting our national wildlife refuges is also important. Minnesota is blessed with 12 of them, totaling 206,993 acres within our borders. In 2002, more than 4.2 million people visited refuges and wetland districts in Minnesota to hunt, fish, participate in interpretive programs, and just enjoy our state’s wildlife. This year, Congress provided $391.5 million to support this critical refuge system - an increase of over $24 million. We also succeeded in securing nearly a half million for Odessa’s Northern Tall Grass Prairie Refuge. Working with outdoorsmen and my Senate colleagues on a bipartisan basis, I hope to repeat our success this year in maintaining overall refuge funding and meeting state refuge priority goals. I also expect that, since they have contributed greatly over the years to our national refuge system, this system remains open to our nation’s hunters and anglers.
I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of a bill in the U.S. Senate, S. 1840, that would allow states to apply for grants in order to encourage owners and operators of privately-held farm and ranch land to voluntarily make their land available for public access and habitat-related activities. This is a common sense, voluntary, incentive-based program consistent with the Farm Bill’s other conservation programs that takes the dissension out of this issue and creates a win-win for everyone involved. I will continue to work with my Senate colleagues, outdoorsmen, and farmers to make this bill law.
Another bill, the American Outdoors Act, was recently introduced by my good friend Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN). It shows great promise in providing new funding to help ensure that state fish and wildlife management, habitat conservation, and recreational infrastructure necessary for all Americans to enjoy our great outdoors is available on a consistent, dependable basis each year. The legislation has broad support from outdoorsmen and conservation advocates and I look forward to working with Senator Alexander in ensuring reliable funding for these important initiatives.
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