Pheasant habitat program hits initial allocation, additional acres requestedPIERRE - The S.D. Game Fish and Parks Department, Pheasants Forever and USDA Farm Service Agency have announced that the State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement program for pheasants reached its allotted acres in just two weeks. As a result, the state is requesting more acres for the pheasant program. Under the enhancement program, also known as SAFE, state agencies along with other groups were given the opportunity to submit proposals to FSA for an additional continuous CRP practice (CP-38). The original pheasant proposal was allotted 20,200 acres for pheasant nesting habitat in eastern and central South Dakota and 500 acres to be used for sage grouse habitat in northwestern South Dakota. As of Thursday, April 10, USDA officials in Huron confirmed that all 20,200 acres for pheasant nesting habitat were allocated.“We knew demand for the new pheasant nesting practice would be high, but we were very surprised how quickly the acres were allocated” said GFP Senior Wildlife Biologist Bill Smith. “Landowners in South Dakota have always been very interested in creating pheasant habitat and SAFE acres gave producers a very important tool to put pheasant habitat on the ground.”
“While SAFE will never replace the 300,000 acres of CRP that expired in 2007, it demonstrates how popular CRP is with the landowners of South Dakota,” said GFP Assistant Wildlife Division Director George Vandel. “Pheasants are very important to South Dakotans and landowners will jump on any opportunity to help them create more habitat for pheasants.” |
