The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced a new program called Conservation Practice 37, or CP 37 for short, designed to enhance waterfowl habitat in the prairie pothole states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Montana.

Administered by the Farm Service Agency, CP 37 is a provision of the Conservation Reserve Program. It targets wetlands and surrounding grasslands much like the long, narrow red straw that precisely directs a shot of WD-40 to the working parts that need it the most.

To date, the CRP has restored two million wetland and wetland buffer acres nationwide, and is estimated to add 2.2 million new ducks into the fall flight each year. The CP 37 initiative expects to increase duck populations by an estimated 60,000 birds annually.

To accomplish this, the goal is to restore 100,000 wetland and upland acres in the Prairie Pothole Region. The program authorizes 40,000 acres in North Dakota, 40,000 acres in South Dakota, 8,000 acres in Minnesota, 8,000 acres in Montana and 4,000 acres in Iowa.

Eligible land must include wetlands capable capable of being restored to CRP standards.. Wetlands must include a buffer that will also serve to protect water quality and provide quality duck nesting habitat.

As CRP programs have done for two decades, there’s a trickle-down effect. While waterfowl will benefit, restored wetland and upland acres will also filter run off, help recharge groundwater supplies, protect drinking water and reduce downstream flooding.

What sets CP 37 apart from previous, similar programs is the qualifications aimed right at the heart of duck production. Specifically, working with various natural resource entities, eligible lands would fall within previously designated categories of having more than or less than 25 duck pairs per square mile.

Land falling in the category of having less than 25 duck pairs per square mile, participants can enroll four upland acres for every acre of wetland. In areas where more than 25 duck pairs per square mile are present, CP 37 allows ten upland acres for every one acre of wetland.

The USDA is offering an incentive payment of up to 25 percent of the restoration cost and including a 50 percent cost share adjustment for installation costs.

In addition, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, Ducks Unlimited, and North Dakota Natural Resources Trust have set up additional incentives for producers who enroll land in the program. Game and Fish will provide cost sharing on grass seed and required management practices, as well as other incentives for landowners who agree to allow public hunting access through the Department’s Private Lands Open to Sportsmen program.

Ducks Unlimited provide cost-share on wetland restoration work that would typically cover the landowner’s cost for this work. The NDNRT will provide additional incentive payments for wetland restorations.

Sign-up for the initiative will begin Oct. 1, 2006, at local FSA offices and will run on a continuous basis until enrollment goals are met, or Dec. 31, 2007, whichever comes first. Compared to a general signup, a continuous CRP signup allows landowners to sign up for the program anytime at their FSA office; there is no general signup period, no scoring of the land or bidding involved.

Across the nation more than 36 million acres are enrolled in CRP. Farmers and ranchers have planted grasses and trees in formerly cropped fields and along fragile riparian lands along rivers and streams slowing erosion and limiting harmful runoff into waterways and increasing water quality. After more than 20 years the benefits of CRP apply to an array of species, land and water.

A program such as CP 37 will probably never be known as widely as WD-40, but similar to the little yellow can, the uses and benefits of CP 37 are well beyond the financial incentive to landowners and benefit to ducks. It’s another small part of the legacy which has made CRP so successful.

North Dakota Game & Fish www.gf.nd.gov He can be reached at 701.281.1220