Indiana CREP Enrollment Begins Today

Pheasants Forever Encourages Indiana Landowners to Consider Enrolling in New CREP

St. Paul, Minn. – July 18, 2005 – Sign-up for Indiana’s first Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) begins today.  The Indiana CREP pays landowners for taking qualifying environmentally sensitive lands out of production.  The program targets the enrollment of 7,000 acres in three watersheds and Pheasants Forever (PF) encourages all Indiana landowners within the watersheds to consider enrollment.

CREP is a targeted method for retiring a state’s most environmentally sensitive farmlands.  As a result, CREP acres provide extremely high natural resource benefits; including improvements to water quality, prevention of soil erosion, and the creation of wildlife habitat.  The Indiana CREP targets the Tippecanoe watershed in the north, the Upper White River in central, and the Highland and Pigeon watersheds in the southwest. 

“Pheasants Forever is extremely excited to have Indiana’s first CREP program take off,” reports Andy Edwards, PF’s regional wildlife biologist for Indiana.  “Around the country, PF has had incredible experiences with CREP.  Not only does the program improve the water quality of our valuable rivers and streams, but the program has an incredible track record of improving wildlife populations.  Michigan’s program, for example, has brought amazing results to Michigan’s pheasant populations.”

Local PF chapters within the targeted watersheds will also be available to work with landowners in planting native grasses on the enrolled acres.  There are currently 20 PF chapters and over 3,000 PF members working on wildlife habitat projects across Indiana.  In fact, Indiana PF chapters have spent over $1.4 million dollars to complete more than 4,500 habitat projects during the organization’s 23-year history.  Those projects have benefited nearly 40,000 acres for wildlife in that time.

Landowners interested in learning more about CREP should contact their local USDA Farm Service Agency office.  The sign-up will continue until enrollment goals are attained, or through December 31, 2007, whichever comes first. 

PF is a non-profit conservation organization dedicated to the protection and enhancement of pheasant and other wildlife populations in North America through habitat improvement, land management, public awareness, and education.  Such efforts benefit landowners and wildlife alike.  PF has more than 110,000 members in over 600 local chapters across the continent.