CRP Conservation Priority Areas

The most recent U.S. Farm Bill allows for annual revisions to USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Conservation Priority Areas (CPAs). As part of CRP general signup competitive ranking process, contract offers within CPAs receive additional points toward their overall score, allowing areas with wildlife and water quality concerns to be more competitive with offers of less concern. USDA Farm Service Agency recently invited partners to provide input on the CPA designation process.
Representatives from USDA Farm Service Agency, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, Nebraska Department of Energy and Environment, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Pheasants Forever, American Bird Conservancy, and Rainwater Basin Joint Venture participated in the CPA designation process. Factors considered by the group included: proportion of non-irrigated cropland, proportion of expiring CRP, NDEE groundwater and stream quality designations, and multiple partner wildlife priority areas. For its part, Rainwater Basin Joint Venture provided statewide Grassland Bird Conservation Areas (GBCAs), which consists of aggregated 50% population core areas based on models developed by RWBJV for select priority grassland bird species identified in the RWBJV Landbird Plan. Ultimately, the partners identified areas of the Bazile Groundwater Management Area, Big Blue River Basin, and portions of Thurston County to be added this year. All areas were added on the basis of both water quality and wildlife priority, meaning offers within these areas will receive additional points for each.