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On behalf of Pheasants Forever, we ask that before you fire a shot in the field this October, you fire an email to your U.S. Senators and Representative in support of reauthorization of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

Congress is debating necessary reductions in federal spending to balance our budget. It's important these cuts to be made with a clear view of today AND tomorrow's ledger. Of chief concern to Pheasants Forever is the integrity of CRP, which has a 25-year history of growing rural economies, creating wildlife, and protecting our water.

Despite this positive track record, strong forces are working to use our nation's current economic state of belt-tightening to force-feed their own anti-conservation agendas. These anti-CRP voices have launched an all-out assault to neuter CRP.

Here are the facts about CRP:

• The Economy of Hunting: CRP is the single biggest source of wildlife habitat across America's prairies. These acres create pheasants, quail, ducks, deer, and turkeys hunted by millions of Americans who spend their hard-earned dollars in cafes, gas stations, and hotels throughout the fall. The hunting industry creates tens of thousands of jobs across America. In South Dakota alone, CRP is the foundation of a $250 million dollar annual pheasant hunting industry.

• Wildlife: Pheasant numbers follow the path of CRP acres as closely as any species of wildlife. In these times of CRP losses, pheasant numbers have dropped by 50 percent or more across much of the pheasant range in just a few short years.

• Water Quality: CRP reduces nitrogen and phosphorous run off into our waterways, and buffers pesticides and herbicides from entering our streams and rivers.

• Flood Prevention: CRP acres hold water during times of spring melts and heavy rains.

• Soil Erosion: Since 1986, CRP has stopped more than 8 billion tons of soils from eroding off the land.

We need each and every Pheasants Forever member and pheasant hunter to email their two U.S. Senators and one U.S. Representative a note with one key message:

Request your Congressperson make reauthorization of CRP a top priority!

We need volume, so please include fellow upland hunters and conservationists in this effort. You can make a difference with a single email.

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