We are thrilled to report that, in one of the quickest legal resolutions we've seen, WELC won a significant victory protecting habitat for wildlife on farmlands.

In May 2008, the USDA abruptly announced plans to allow haying and grazing on 24 million acres of farmland enrolled in the successful Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Under the CRP, farmers are paid to not farm their lands, and to instead establish and maintain perennial cover for wildlife. However, the USDA, without environmental analysis or seeking input from state wildlife agencies, decided to allow haying and grazing in this critical habitat, and still planned to pay farmers for habitat conservation!

Since the CRP was established in the 1985 Farm Bill, it has been very popular with farmers, state wildlife agencies and conservationists, and has provided enormous conservation benefits in the way of reducing soil erosion, improving water quality, and providing high quality habitat for many species of wildlife.

On behalf of the National Wildlife Federation, we requested judicial review of the USDA's decision and Federal District Court Judge Coughenour granted us a 10-day temporary restraining order until a hearing on the merit of our claim.   Click here to read the TRO (pdf).

Now, we are happy to report that at the hearing in Seattle, the judge agreed to permanently stop the destruction of important wildlife habitat on CRP lands, except for the lands for which farmers had requested to hay/graze prior to the temporary restraining order, equaling about 2.5 million acres. (The haying and grazing allowed pursuant to emergencies, such as those resulting from drought and flooding, are not implicated in this case or affected by this decision.)  Click here to read the Permanent Injunction (pdf).

The judge noted that the USDA’s actions were “breathtaking,” that the USDA could not draft regulations that allowed it to circumvent statutes enacted by Congress, and that its short checklist could “charitably be described as a joke” in terms of environmental analysis.

"Our problem was not with the individual farmers and ranchers by any means, but with the government's failure to analyze the environmental impacts of taking such a broad, sweeping action as opening 24 million acres to haying and grazing," said Sarah McMillan, the Western Environmental Law Center attorney who represented the National Wildlife Federation. "Some of those farmers and ranchers are in a crisis, and we did understand they had made investments."

More on the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP):
The CRP has had a profound and positive impact on many species of wildlife, including waterfowl, upland game birds, and migratory songbirds, which depend on extensive grassland t o reproduce successfully. In just the three states of Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota lands in the CRP have added at least 12.4 million ducks to the waterfowl population that migrates south in the Fall.  It has helped reverse the decline in some species of grassland song birds, and has helped increase populations of ring-neck pheasants, sharptail grouse, and other upland game birds. In 2000, the US Fish and Wildlife Service decided not to list the Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse under the Endangered Species Act in substantial part due to the relative habitat security that CRP lands in Idaho, Washington, Colorado and Utah and other states provide for the species.
 
These wildlife benefits have earned support for the program from farmers, conservationists, conservation organizations, and the broad public. Lands in the CRP have both conserved and restored bird populations because they provide critical habitat during all periods of the year. During the spring and summer, CRP lands provide precisely the dense nesting cover needed by both migratory and resident bird species. During the winter, CRP lands help protect resident birds from predators and winter storms. Rather than plowed fields or isolated grassland patches, CRP lands provide extensive acreage of habitat for the benefit of many wildlife species.