Pheasants, habitat and cropland: the future for pheasants in South Dakota (and Minnesota)

Via Dakota Free Press's Descendant of Redfield Pheasant Importer Suggests Habitat Policies to Boost Hunting, we read T.J. Schalkle's Future for pheasants in South Dakota in the Pierre Capitol Journal.

The piece by the Wayzata resident appeared in newspapers across South Dakota. Here are his main points:

Over the last decade, there has been a dramatic and concerning drop in pheasants, hunters, and the economic benefit they create for all South Dakotans. The cause is simple: there are fewer hunters because there are 61 percent fewer pheasants. There are fewer pheasants because 47 percent of pheasants’ home (“nesting habitat”) has been converted to cropland. And this nesting habitat has been decimated because the financial incentive (the Conservation Reserve Program, or “CRP”) for farmers to create nesting habitat has been slashed by Congress.

This, ultimately, is the root cause – farmers need more incentive and support to allow nesting habitat that benefits pheasants, which attracts hunters, who fund South Dakota. CRP also has enormous benefit to water and soil quality for all residents.

For those less familiar with the topic — every year, farmers have to decide what to do with marginal cropland – grow on it or use it for other means, like grassland for pheasant hunting.

When crop prices are low — or land is very poor — it’s more appealing to grow grassland in order to receive payment from CRP and hunters. Thus, with less money for CRP incentives, farmers are choosing less grassland and, in turn, fewer pheasants.

While more federal CRP funding is the most impactful solution, the state has other near-term options to pursue. That is why I am requesting Governor Noem reconvene/form a permanent Pheasant Work Group to explore additional solutions, including:

• Self-fund Drastically increase prices for hunting licenses for out-of-state residents. Out-of-state hunters (70k each year) are 56 percent of SD’s pheasant hunters. Having them pay an extra $70 (the price of their baggage fee) would generate an extra $5 million
• Create pressure for higher CRP funding in Congress’ next Farm Bill
• Fund stronger enforcement of CRP stipulations and hunting permits
• Invest Pass state legislation to fund stronger SD Game, Fish, and Parks incentives for farmers to use off-season cropland as habitation
• Add stipulations on any funding to require certain cover crops; disallow grazing, haying, and tilling; and prevent crop insurance from causing habitat conversion Use some existing state funds to buy and convert land to public wildlife refuge areas
• Have an outreach program so farmers know how to fully utilize CRP and wetland reserve easements in order to take advantage of habitat funding
• Non-monetary solutions Manage existing public land in pheasant-encouraging ways. This can be as simple as changing what’s planted along certain roadways
• Consider hedging price of crops. The ratio of cropland-to-grassland is largely dependent on crop prices, yet Farm Bill funding does not take this into account. If the program began hedging crop prices, it would be able to provide a more competitive incentive to not farm certain land when crop prices are high

At Dakota Free Press, Cory Allen Heidelberger notes:

Contrary to what one might expect if one imbibed Governor Noem’s coonskin-cap propaganda at full gulp, Schalkle does not mention skunk, opossum, and other small predators as the cause of dwindling pheasant numbers.

That's a nod to Noem's "nest predator" bounty program. In a more recent post, Positive Perceptions of Noem’s Tail-Bounty Program Based on False Assumptions About Effect on Pheasant Population, Heidelberger looks at the South Dakota governor's typical public relations approach to problem solving. It's worth a read.

In Minnesota, some of Schalkle's concerns are shared by Rep. Rick Hansen, though not specifically for pheasants alone:

At Wildlife Hot Topics 🦌🐝🌾session at #DNRroundtable and asked about general #CRP signup suffering because of Farm Bill lowering enrollment rental rates. Worried about losing #CRP acres affecting water 💧quality, wildlife 🦆& carbon storage ✅ @mndnr @MNBWSR #waterquality pic.twitter.com/sciIVfm7XB

— Rep. Rick Hansen (@reprickhansen) January 24, 2020

Hansen, the South St. Paul DFLer who chairs the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division, would go on to introduce a CRP-enhancement bill.

A January 11 tweet about a Star Tribune article included the idea:

CWD, lower walleye limit on agendas at Capitol | The Adopt-A-Dumpster program for 🦌deer remains needs more funding. We also need to enhance 🌱#CRP 🌾#CWD #deerhunting #mnleg https://t.co/OwxhL6r7ql

— Rep. Rick Hansen (@reprickhansen) January 12, 2020

Later on February 1, Hansen tweeted about the bipartisan bill:

Bipartisan bill Introduced in MN House ✅today:
HF2957 (Hansen) Conservation Reserve Program 🌾state incentive funding provided, and money appropriated. https://t.co/KlP8UG70mL. 🌎💧🐝🦌🦆🌞🌱 #mnleg #conservation #savethebees #mnag

— Rep. Rick Hansen (@reprickhansen) February 1, 2020

Correction: An earlier version of this post inaccurately neglected to report about HF2957. Our apologies.

Related posts:

• South Dakota state senator thinks constituents pheasant hunting in Minnesota "an abomination"
• Carbon. A secret plan to get South Dakota on it
• Not in Minnesota anymore: SD Gov will oppress farmers' god-given right to hay right-of-ways
• SW MN Pheasants Forever activist wonders when state House GOP became the anti-hunting club

Photo: Pheasant habitat.

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