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New program aims to preserve 20,200 acres for pheasantsMITCHELL, S.D. (AP)--A new program aims to preserve 20,200 acres for pheasants in South Dakota, according to Daryl Campbell, conservation chief for the state Farm Service Agency. It's one of 30 programs in the nationwide State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement effort that's part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program. The new program, proposed by Pheasants Forever and the state Game, Fish and Parks Department, will focus on conservation practices helpful to pheasants, sharp tail grouse, prairie chickens, upland nesting ducks and other birds. The program will be available in all eastern South Dakota counties and the West River counties of Gregory, Lyman, Tripp, Jones and Stanley. Sign-up dates have not yet been announced. It will protect some pheasant habitat that otherwise would be lost as existing CRP contracts expire, Campbell said. "The authors of this project had that in mind when they proposed it," he said. "They realized that we were losing a lot of acres that were under expiring contracts and will expire in the next three years, and this is an attempt to replace some of those acres." For the past 22 years, the CRP program has paid landowners to turn marginal parcels into areas of natural cover that protect wildlife and the environment. South Dakota's CRP acres have been credited with sparking an increase in pheasant numbers. Some landowners have let their CRP contracts expire, partly due to high grain prices. South Dakota had about 1.3 million acres enrolled in CRP last month. Recently, the number had hovered around 1.5 million acres a year. 3/17/08 Date: 3/12/08
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