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October 19, 2000 For additional information, contact Nancy Goggin, DNREC Division of Soil and Water, 302-739-8014, cell phone, 302-242-0593; or Nancy Rolli, Information and Education Office, 302-739-4506 Delaware Farmers Can Receive Funds for Conservation PracticesDelaware farmers can receive up to $150 per acre for conservation practices when they join Delaware's Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. In June of 1999, the State of Delaware entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to enroll 6,000 acres into the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. In May 2000, the program won national recognition along with seven other states by receiving Vice President Al Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government Hammer Award. The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) is a joint Federal-State program that retires portions of farmland from production in order to minimize significant environmental effects related to agriculture. Combined federal and state funds just slightly less than $10 million are available to landowners who join the program and implement environmentally sensitive Best Management Practices over the next several years. The Delaware CREP is a voluntary program designed to reduce nutrient
and sediment loadings to impaired streams, improve water quality, increase
upland wildlife habitat and create wildlife corridors. To be eligible
for the program, the cropland must have been in production for two of
the last five years and the portion to be taken out of production must
be adjacent to a stream, ditch or wetland. No minimum acreage is required.
Farmers may participate in the Delaware CREP by removing farmland from
production and implementing any of the following conservation practices:
Payments are based on County Conservation Reserve Program soil rental rates as follows:
Significant progress has already been made. "In less than one year, over 1500 acres have been enrolled in the program," said Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Nicholas DiPasquale. "Of the acres enrolled so far, approximately 73 percent are located in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, 26 percent are located in the Delaware Bay Watershed and one percent in the Inland Bays Watershed." On Sept. 13, 2000, Delaware became the first state to sign an historic Memorandum of Understanding pledging cooperative efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay and tidal tributaries. The Delaware CREP has already contributed significantly in advancing the goals outlined in this agreement, though technically, the effect on water quality from the program's conservation practices can only be measured after they have been implemented and are well established. "The real success of the program comes in the form of partnerships - people working together toward common goals combined with the best 'science' and 'technology' we have to offer," explains Nancy Goggin, program manager of DNREC's Division of Soil and Water. "Ultimately, the landowners make the final choice. Their choice has been to plant approximately 1000 acres of the total 1500 acres enrolled to date in trees. These plantings, implemented adjacent to impaired waters, will enhance our living resources and help Delaware meet water quality goals." For more information on CREP, call Kent County, 302-697-2600; New Castle County, 302-832-3100; and Sussex County, 302-856-3990. -30- Document no. 40-01/00/00/10/09 |
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