FLOOD00152 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

1 million acres of floodplain and wetland cropland now in the Conservation Reserve Program, through which the farmers receive annual rental payments in exchange for restoring or allowing the land to revert to more natural conditions, However, the Conservation Reserve Program contracts are only for 10 or 15 years, after which time the land can be retumed to crop production or any other use, . The ASFPM recommends that additional funds be provided for permanent easement programs, instead of continuing to fund programs (like short-term non-production contracts and easements) that perpetuate unwise agricultural use of floodplains. . Greater emphasis should be put on the use of Emergency Watershed Protection Program funds for the purchase of permanent easements, rather than on levee reconstruction and other measures whose aim is to return flood-damaged agricultural lands to row crop production, Buffer Zones Several U.S, Department of Agriculture programs will now cost-share or pay farmers to establish buffers along streams and other waterways, Under the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program and Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, funds are available to establish up to 150- foot buffers along every river, stream, and drainage ditch in the country. A grass or wooded buffer can be established in cropland, and a planted or natural wooded buffer in cropland, pastureland, or rangeland, The program will pay an annual "rental" payment to the landowner for at least 15 years and at least half of the establishment costs, including any needed fencing, Measures to be implemented early in 2000 will greatly increase landowner incentives. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will also pay up to the equivalent of 75% of the cost of restoring or establishing wetlands in the riparian buffers, Through state-negotiated Conservation Reserve Enhancement Programs, additional incentives are being provided in many states, In some of the state-negotiated programs the widths of the buffers have been expanded to include all of the frequently flooded floodplain in critical watersheds. Several states are making some or all of the incentive payments they contribute contingent on the landowner's agreeing to a permanent easement on the riparian buffers. . Because of the tremendous benefits that riparian buffers can provide, the ASFPM recommends that the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program be converted to a permanent riparian buffer easement program nationwide, . All states should work with the U.S, Department of Agriculture to develop Conservation Reserve Enhancement Programs to leverage state funds to permanently protect riparian buffers and floodplains, . Programs that support the creation and maintenance of riparian buffers should be applied to urbanizing areas in addition to rural, agricultural ones. Agricultural Levees After the 1993 floods a sense of urgency developed on the part of Congress to restore non-federal agricultural levees, Even though, in many places, the cost of restoring the levees exceeded the value of the land, many levees were rebuilt either with federal funds or through a patchwork of voluntary Association of State Floodplain Managers -14- National Flood Programs in Review 2000