WPC Receives $1 Million Grant for Outreach and Technical Assistance to Area Farmers
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty, on behalf of Governor Edward G. Rendell, last Friday awarded a $1 million Growing Greener grant to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy for outreach and technical assistance through the newly established Ohio River Watershed Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP).
“Western Pennsylvania Conservancy is honored to lead this important project in the Ohio River watershed. We have a strong record of working with farmers in western Pennsylvania, and a long list of conservation projects under our belts. We look forward to promoting CREP to farmers within the Ohio River watershed so that ultimately water quality, aquatic resources, wildlife habitat and the landowners will benefit,” noted Dr. Gary San Julian (pictured above speaking at the April 1 presentation), who serves on the board of the Conservancy and chairs its Natural Resource Conservation Advisory Committee. Julian is a faculty member at the Penn State School of Forest Resources.
WPC has identified numerous conservation objectives in the Ohio Basin, which is the most biologically diverse out of all the major river watersheds in Pennsylvania. In addition to this high biodiversity, this watershed includes high numbers of state and federally listed aquatic species of special concern, mostly freshwater mussels and fishes. Portions of the Ohio River drainage were identified and included in a 1998 national assessment of the most important biodiversity watersheds in the United States in terms of need for conservation focus. WPC intends that the CREP program will benefit and improve the condition of the ecosystems upon which this aquatic life depends.
Secretary McGinty made the announcement at Friendship Farms in Westmoreland County. Friendship Farms enrolled in CREP to install a large fenced riparian buffer through the main pasture, and plant grasses on a steep hillside classified as highly erodible land.
Recognizing the tremendous social, environmental and economic contributions that agriculture makes to communities and the need to invest in environmentally sensitive farmland, Governor Rendell worked aggressively to petition the U.S. Department of Agriculture to accept the Ohio River basin counties into CREP. The Governor announced the successful inclusion of these counties in March 2004, insisting at the same time that CREP remain a priority even as funding for Growing Greener, which helps to finance the state-federal program, is scarce.
The economic benefit to marginal pastureland and unproductive farmland is what has made CREP so attractive to farmers. CREP provides opportunities for farmers to put their unproductive land into a conservation practice and be compensated for the loss of that use. The state currently boasts the nation's largest CREP program, covering 265,000 acres in 59 of the 67 counties.
So far, CREP has infused $36 million in federal money into Pennsylvania's agricultural economy, offering an economic boost to agricultural communities. That amount will grow to $400 million once all 265,000 acres are installed.
For more information on Growing Greener, visit DEP's Web site at www.dep.state.pa.us , Keyword: “DEP Growing Greener.”
To find out more about Friendship Farms, visit www.friendshipfarms.com.
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