South Dakota ranchers credit sound conservation practices with reducing their livestock mortality rate following Winter Storm Atlas in 2013. Pictured from left to right: Jason Reed, Isaac Dahlman, Jerylin Dahlman and Susie Reed.

Like many ranchers in the northern Plains, Jason and Susie Reed will never forget the first week in October 2013. Up to 60 inches of snow fell in parts of eastern Wyoming and western South Dakota, surprising everyone and putting every rancher’s grazing livestock at risk. The unexpected early-season snowfall became known as Winter Storm Atlas.

According to the South Dakota Department of Agriculture, approximately 45,000 head of livestock perished in the storm. Among the losses were cattle from Reed Ranch, operated by Jason and Susie along with their daughter and son-in-law, Jerylin and Isaac Dahlman. But things could have turned out worse. Continue reading →

Gail Dunlap used the USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to implement many conservation practices on her land, including restoring nearly seven acres of wetlands on one of her Ohio farms.

Since she was a teenager some 60 years ago, Gail Dunlap has played an active role in her family’s seventh generation farming operation by focusing on ways to continually improve conservation practices and establish a natural and sustainable way of life.

“Back then, we were not that many years past the Dust Bowl times and farmers in the area were doing a wonderful job of resting the soil with long rotations,” said Dunlap. “I remember even the weeds seemed to be as beautiful as wildflowers.” Continue reading →

The Texas Farm Service Agency celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Conservation Reserve Program with partners and landowners on Nov. 30 in Amarillo.

Conservation enthusiasts across Texas joined USDA to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the Farm Service Agency’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) on Monday, Nov. 30. The event was held in Amarillo, which is centrally located in the Texas panhandle, just north of the south plains; regions that boast heavy CRP enrollment from county to county.

The celebration kicked off the Amarillo Farm and Ranch Show produced by IDEAg Group. With the help of IDEAg Group and the National Wild Turkey Federation, USDA hosted a reception that was attended by approximately 100 landowners, conservation partners and USDA employees. Continue reading →

USDA partnered with the Kirby Creek Coordinated Resource Management (CRM) Group to help maintain and enhance the quality of the Kirby Creek Watershed in Wyoming.

Looking out over a scenic Wyoming landscape, one might realize the beauty and life-sustaining resources nature created along the Kirby Creek Watershed. However, hidden among the splendor lies dangers to humans. But, these hazards aren’t immediately visible to the naked eye.

In 2000, a conservation group began to examine the watershed located in the northwest part of the state near the Bighorn Basin. After a water test confirmed the creek was contaminated with high levels of E. coli, the group determined the threat was caused by cattle using the creek as a water source. Continue reading →

A Chippewa County landowner worked with USDA and the Chippewa County Land Conservation and Forest Management (LCFM) to restore a wetland area and create a riparian buffer. The riparian buffer was funded through the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) and the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company funded the wetland restoration.

The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company has depended on the Big Eddy Spring in Chippewa County, Wisconsin, since the brewery was founded in 1867. The Big Eddy has been dubbed the purest water in the world, which gives the Leinenkugel family every right to treasure the water they’ve used for brewing for more than 145 years.

Dick Leinenkugel, a sixth generation brewer, says his family has a long-standing commitment to excellence in the way it serves its customers, treats its employees and cares for the environment.  Especially the water that serves their business and their community. Continue reading →

A conservation partnership protects seven miles of Little Bitterroot River in Montana. Riparian buffers line the river and help filter nutrients from runoff, trap sediment, cool water temperatures, stabilize stream banks and sequester carbon.

Environmental conditions along the Lower Little Bitterroot River in Montana are tough. Rainfall is barely 11 inches per year. Farms and ranches irrigating upstream in the summer make matters worse. They reduce streamflow significantly. Vegetation stays in poor condition. It gets overgrazed and trampled by livestock. But the weeds grow thick.

Despite the challenges, things began to change in 2010. That’s when nearly 350 acres of sensitive land on the Flathead Indian Reservation were enrolled in the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Landowners knew they had to protect the soil and prevent nutrients from washing into their waterways. Continue reading →

After participating in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for eight years, Arkansas farmer, Walker Morris, has seen an increase in bobwhite quail and other wildlife on his land.

Walker Morris, a landowner near Earle in Crittenden County is doing his part to increase the bobwhite quail population in northeastern Arkansas. In 2007, Morris took 113 acres out of production and enrolled the land in the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

Of the 113 acres enrolled, Morris devoted 65 acres to riparian forest buffers, a strip of trees bordering perennial or seasonal streams that help filter nutrients from runoff, trap sediment, cool water temperatures, stabilize stream banks and sequester carbon. The remaining 48 acres were used to establish wildlife habitat for upland birds on the edge of crop fields. The field borders were planted with native warm season grasses and forbs along with interspersed shrub clusters of American plum and sumac.  Continue reading →

Richard Phillips uses the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to continue his brother’s legacy of protecting wildlife and conserving resources on the family farm near Norborne in Carroll County, Missouri.

Missouri farmer Richard Phillips lost his brother Gary in 2000. Gary had polio. Still, he was an avid outdoorsman and conservationist. A bench with Gary’s name inscribed on it sits near a pond on the farm and reminds the family of Gary’s commitment to wildlife and conservation.

The year before Gary died, he enrolled 114 acres in the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to help promote wildlife habitat, maintain clean water and prevent soil loss on the farm. Richard took over the operation and makes sure his brother’s legacy lives on by continuing conservation practices on the family farm. Continue reading →

New Mexico landowner, Ray Rush, has reduced soil erosion and increased wildlife habitat on his land throughout his 30-year experience with the Conservation Reserve Program.

“CRP is a wonderful program and I’m very pleased with how it has benefited my farm. Some of the best grassland in the country is right here on my farm.”

That’s from Ray Rush, who operates a farm near Melrose, New Mexico, on the eastern border of the state not far from Amarillo, Texas. Continue reading →