OUTDOOR CORNER: CRP EXCHANGES MONEY FOR BUFFER STRIPS

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a United States Department of Agriculture program that is administered by the Farm Services Agency. This popular agricultural conservation program pays willing landowners an annual rental payment to retire agriculture land and maintain vegetative cover for 10 or 15 years.

The CRP program provides a continuous signup for buffer strips that began on Sept. 4, 1996, and is intended to be available indefinitely. A landowner may sign up at any time for buffer strips, such as: riparian buffers, filter strips, shelter belts, living snow fences, field windbreaks, grassed waterways and shallow water areas for wildlife. Although all buffer strips are important, Missouri streams will benefit the most from riparian buffers.

A riparian buffer is the strip of land bordering a stream channel. In general, a good riparian buffer is at least 50- to 100-feet wide and is composed of uneven-aged trees and shrubs. This wooded border benefits the stream by controlling erosion, filtering sediment, absorbing runoff and pollutants, and enhancing fish and wildlife habitat.

Cropland and marginal pasture lands are eligible to be enrolled into riparian buffers. Marginal pasture land is any land adjacent to streams that is suitable to be planted with trees. All land eligible, if requested by the farmer, will be accepted into the program with no ranking or competitive process required.

The yearly payment will be the "soil rental rate" for that type of soil in that county (calculated the same way as other CRP land), plus 20 percent for the riparian buffer practice, plus five dollars per acre for maintenance. For example, in Cape Girardeau County the average rental rate for riparian buffers is $62. Add 20 percent ($12.40) for the riparian buffer practice and $5 for maintenance to equal $79.40 per acre annual rent.

The riparian buffer can be revegetated by either planting trees or by natural regeneration. An adequate nearby seed source (mature trees) must be present when using natural regeneration to establish a buffer. The land can be enrolled for 10 or 15 years. Farm Services Agency will provide 50 percent cost share for establishing the buffer strip.

The minimum amount of land that can be enrolled is 50 feet from the top of the streambank for small streams and 100 feet for larger streams. The maximum is 200 feet. If a landowner already has a 50-foot buffer of trees along the stream, he is eligible to enroll another 50-150 feet into the program. The payment will be on the "new" riparian buffer area.

The severity of bank erosion and its influence on existing or potential riparian trees and shrubs should be assessed. Streambank stabilization techniques may be needed before, or during, the establishment of a riparian forest buffer. In instances where streambank erosion is a problem, technical and cost share assistance is available from the Missouri Department of Conservation.

For more information on CRP, contact your local Farm Services Agency or Natural Resources Conservation Service. For information or technical assistance for streambank erosion problems, contact the Missouri Department of Conservation at 290-5730.

Brad Posts is a acquatic services biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation.