7-18 IAN CRP Haying

  Haying and grazing according to the Farm Service Agency.  I had a recent conversation with Dick Rush of the FSA and he said the CRP program has changed rules. “The CRP program is extremely valuable to wildlife here Idaho and nationally. Back in 2006 there was a legal settlement that was signed between the National Wildlife Federation and the FSA which I head up here in Idaho. It limited the frequency of haying and grazing on CRP land to once every 10 years in the state of Idaho. It suspended haying and grazing during the primary nesting season which was April 1 to August 1 and that settlement stipulated that if a change is made or if we want to make a change in the frequency of haying and grazing or the nesting season, that FSA a had to pay for and conduct an environmental assessment to identify any potential environmental and economic impact to such change. Well that environmental assessment was completed by our agency back in 2009 and what  was determined at that time is that we would change the haying and grazing instead of one out of 10 years it would be one out of five years. So that’s a little bit of the history of the nesting season and haying and grazing.”