Edgefield, SC (April 03, 2007)— Quail Unlimited
 
 
Announced March 22, 2007 SAFE is a new, wildlife oriented Continuous CRP cropland practice with a 10-15 year rental and maintenance contract, $100/acre signup incentive payment, 50% practice cost share, 40% practice incentive payment and required midcontract management.

National allotment of 500,000 acres

Land must meet CRP cropland eligibility requirements, marginal pastureland is NOT eligible.
 

Eligible cropland is that which is both; planted or considered planted in an ag commodity 4 of 6 crop years from 1996-2001; and physically and legally capable of being planted in a normal manner. Recently expired CRP, former CRP maintained in original grass cover and multiyear grasses and legumes with or without summer fallow rotation maintained from 1996-2001 are considered planted and meet cropping history requirements.

Each State may have multiple SAFE project areas and multiple CP38 practices in each project area.

SAFE proposals should target high priority fish and wildlife habitat for threatened/endangered, declining and economically/socially important species and involve local cooperative efforts between producers, state/federal agencies, non-profit conservation organizations and the public.

Each SAFE proposal must utilize qualified wildlife professionals to design and implement appropriate habitat and wildlife population monitoring plans using generally accepted techniques.

SAFE has 5 practice subcategories (A-E) with allocated conservation practices:

38A Buffers
 —CP8A Grass Waterways, CP21 Filter Strips & CP22 Riparian Buffers

Wetlands
 —CP9 Shallow Water Areas for Wildlife

 —CP23 Wetland Restoration & CP23A Nonfloodplain Wetland Restoration

 —CP27 Farmable Wetlands & CP28 Farmable Wetlands Buffers

 —CP37 Duck Nesting Habitat (currently limited to IA, MN, MT, ND SD)

38C Trees
 —CP3 Tree Planting & CP3A Hardwood Tree Planting

 —CP16 Shelterbelt Establishment & CP17 Living Snow Fences

 —CP25 Rare and Declining Habitat

 —CP31 Bottomland Timber Establishment on Wetlands

 —CP35 Emergency Forestry New & Existing for Longleaf Pine, Bottomland & Upland Hardwoods, Softwood and Mixed Trees (currently limited to AL, FL, LA, MS, TX)

38D-Longleaf Pine
 —CP3A Hardwood Tree Planting , CP36 Longleaf Pine

Grass
 —CP1 Permanent Introduced Grasses, CP2 Permanent Native Grasses,

 —CP4B Wildlife Corridors, CP4D Wildlife Habitat, CP10 Established Grass

 —CP12 Wildlife Food Plot, CP15 Contour Grass Strips,

 —CP18B&C Salt Tolerant Vegetation, CP24 Cross Wind Trap Strips, CP25 Rare & Declining Habitat, CP33 Habitat Buffers for Upland Birds

These current CRP practices can be fine tuned under SAFE to improve, connect or create higher quality habitat that promotes healthier ecosystems in areas identified as essential to effective target species management.
FSA will begin accepting proposals at any time..

SAFE Proposal Requirements

Each State may have multiple project areas and multiple SAFE practices within each project area

All proposals must be submitted to the state FSA office
  Proposals must:

Be no more than 10 pages in length

Separate required information into the sections described below

Use bulleted lists, tables and short narratives

Include an electronic copy in Microsoft Word
  Proposal Sections shall include:

Cover sheet with Project Name, Contact Organization, Name, Address, Telephone and Fax Numbers, E-mail, list of Stakeholders, State or States, County or Counties and 11 to 14 digit Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUC)

Project Goal describing desired goal(s) and including measurable outcomes and timeframes for outcome accomplishment

Project Description with the following:
 —Defined project boundaries including State, County and HUC codes

 —Project Boundary Shape File in GIS ESRI format

 —Requested number of acres

 —List of SAFE practices, applied CRP practices and any additional practice requirements and/or modifications

 —Technical practice requirements (# of species, species list, planting requirements, etc for each SAFE practice)

 —Habitat type to be restored

 —Map of land use and existing habitat types in project area (Proposed CRP in relation to existing habitat) as an attached ESRI shape file

 —Brief description of existing human and environmental conditions in project area

 —Description of other ongoing Federal, State and Private efforts to achieve project goals/objectives

 —Description of Project Benefits including societal, recreational, economic and environmental and the relationship of the project to existing Federal and State Wildlife plans such as the State Wildlife Action Plan.

 —Cost including estimated FSA CRP payments and life of project costs and matching State and private funding and out of pocket expenses.

 —Description of Habitat and Wildlife Population Monitoring and Evaluation Plan.

 —Description of the Public Outreach Program including public support and outreach efforts, communication plan and fact sheet about the SAFE practice for use with producers.

Each Proposal Package will consist of copies of the SAFE Proposal, 2-CRP amendment including modifications to Exhibit 9 practice write-up for SAFE, SAFE Practice fact sheets, GIS ESRI shape files and the FSA STC and NRCS State Technical Committee minutes.

Each SAFE proposal will provide an annual performance report (including an electronic Word/Excel/Access copy to the CEPD) on or before Dec 31, 2007 listing:
 —Overview of project accomplishments

 —List of all practices, enrollment by practice and description of each modified practice

 —State and private resource commitment

 —Monitoring and evaluation methods and results

 —Outreach efforts

—Summary compiled by Chuck Kowaleski Texas Parks and Wildlife