Improving CRP for Pheasants & Quail

Unmanaged CRP loses wildlife value
By Pete Berthelsen

Unmanaged CRP fields 6 years old or older are much less productive for wildlife than when they were young. Reinvigorate your CRP grasslands with light discing and legume seeding - pheasants and other wildlife will respond impressively. (photo by Bill Witt) The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is the strongest wildlife program inthe Farm Bill. Its debut in the 1985 Farm Bill marked the beginning ofan unparalleled conservation legacy in this nation. The new 2002 Farm Bill includes a record 39.2 million CRP acres. While CRP has benefited many upland wildlife species, it often falls short of maximizing its potential wildlife benefits. First, the maximum wildlife benefits from CRP have often gone unrealized due to deficiencies in the original seeding mixtures planted. Second, many CRP stands have aged well beyond their maximum productivity for wildlife - i.e. they have not been properly managed or managed at all.

This is a critical distinction - unmanaged CRP lands are shortchanging the wildlife they were initially intended to benefit. 

I fyou own or hunt in CRP fields, you have probably noticed the number of pheasants and quail in these fields decreasing over time. A common scenario is that birds numbers tend to increase rapidly in years one to four when the grass planting is young, diverse and still becoming established, but then tends to decrease a bit more every year thereafter. This is a very common story and primarily a result of theage and maturity of the CRP grass stand.

Throughout the nation, aging, less productive CRP grass stands are now almost the norm with 50% of the CRP grass stands (16.6 million acres) being 11 years old or older. In general, these grass stands are well past their most productive period for wildlife, including pheasants, quail and grassland songbirds. In the Midwest’s top five pheasant producing states of Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, the aging CRP situation is even more pronounced. Over 35% of these CRP grass stands are now 15 years old or older.

What these statistics are telling us is that CRP fields in the most important pheasant producing states are no longer in a condition to yield the maximum number of upland birds. Considering upland bird productivity in most CRP fields begins to drop off after five years,most of the cover produced by CRP in the country has now advanced to a state where both diversity and productivity for wildlife is very low.

The natural succession of grass stands will tend to create a field that is dominated by grasses over time. If the objective of CRP is to create a field of grass, the program has been a huge success.  If however, the program or the landowner’s objectives are to produce the best, most productive wildlife cover, the habitat produced through the program often falls short.

The good news

The good news is that a few easy management practices can keep CRP productive for pheasants and quail. While CRP contracts allow for "maintenance" of grass stands, in many cases, little or no management takes place over the life of the average CRP contract. From a wildlife perspective, this is where the loss of wildlife benefits on CRP grassstands begins to occur. As grass stands mature, they naturally tend to:

There are several management practices approved for CRP that will restore the lost productivity and diversity to a grass field. These include: prescribed burning on a rotational basis, light discing, and interseeding legumes. Of these management practices, light discing followed by interseeding legumes may hold the best opportunity to restore the diversity and productivity that CRP once held.

In Nebraska, PF and the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission have joined forces in an effort called "Focus on Pheasants" to perform just this type of upgrade on aging CRP fields throughout the state (see Spotlight on Habitat this issue). The partners are hiring contractors to perform light discing followed by drilling a specialized mixture of legumes into mature CRP grass stands. This practice is offered to landowners in several areas of the state. By focusing these efforts on concentrated areas of the state, we hope to demonstrate the program’s benefits and results to landowners and increase local bird populations.

To date, the results have been quite impressive. Pheasant and grassland songbird numbers have been increasing on fields with an aggressive discing/legume upgrade performed on them. A study being conducted on these fields found a 250% increase in the amount of insects in upgraded vs. non-upgraded CRP fields. The overall diversity and vigor of CRP grass stands is being restored. The practice is quickly returning old, mature CRP fields to vigorous, productive habitat for upland birds. By following the steps listed in this article, mature, less productive CRP fields can be restored to the diverse habitat needed by most upland birds in as little as a year. For details about the "Focus onPheasants" program and a complete set of guidelines for CRP discing/legume upgrades, please visit www.NebraskaPF.com.