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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your guide to

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Speaker 1: the whitetail woods. Present it by First Light, creating proven

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Speaker 1: versatile hunting apparel for the stand saddler blind, First Light,

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Speaker 1: Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host, Mark Kenyon.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. I'm your host,

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Speaker 2: Mark Kenyon, and this week on the show, we're joined

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Speaker 2: by Wit Fossburg and Aaron Field from TRCP to discuss

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Speaker 2: the most impactful conservation bill of the year and how

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Speaker 2: we can help get it pasted. All right, welcome to

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Speaker 2: the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you by First Light,

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Speaker 2: and this week on the show, as you might expect,

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Speaker 2: we are continuing our Conservation Month series and our topic

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Speaker 2: today is a very specific one. We're going to discuss

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Speaker 2: one specific piece of legislation, the biggest conservation bill actually

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Speaker 2: of the entire year, and if drafted and passed in

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Speaker 2: the way that our guests today believe that it should be,

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Speaker 2: this bill is going to direct billions that's billions, with

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Speaker 2: a B billions of dollars every year to conservation programs

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Speaker 2: that will get better habitat on the ground for wildlife.

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Speaker 2: It's going to help pay for programs that open up

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Speaker 2: millions of private acres to public hunting access, and so

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Speaker 2: so much more. This bill is the twenty twenty three

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Speaker 2: Farm Bill. It's a title that at first glance, you know,

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Speaker 2: maybe doesn't suggest great things for wildlife in wild places.

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Speaker 2: But by the end of today's episode, I promise you

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Speaker 2: will understand just how important the Farm Bill is to hunting, fishing,

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Speaker 2: and conservation, and you'll understand the specific details in the

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty three edition that we hunters need to understand

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Speaker 2: and advocate for. So our guests today to help tackle

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Speaker 2: all this. Both come from the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

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Speaker 2: and they are with Fossberg, the President and CEO of

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Speaker 2: the TRCP, and Aaron Field, the director of Private Lands Conservation.

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Speaker 2: So today is going to be very action oriented.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 2: Compare this back to our first episode in the series,

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Speaker 2: which was high level kind of philosophy. You know, what's

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Speaker 2: going on with wildlife all across the world, why are

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Speaker 2: things like this happening? What does that mean for us?

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Speaker 2: And then last week in our second episode, we had

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Speaker 2: this deep dive into these specific trends and issues impacting

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Speaker 2: just white tilt deer, and now today We're going to

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Speaker 2: get even more nitty gritty by talking about this one

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Speaker 2: specific law that could make a very real, very meaningful

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Speaker 2: difference for wildlife, wild places, hunting, fishing, and all that

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Speaker 2: kind of stuff. So we're going to get some very

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Speaker 2: concrete action items today to help make this happen. It's

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Speaker 2: going to be a roadmap for you know, what we

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Speaker 2: need to understand about the twenty twenty three farm bell

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Speaker 2: and what we can actually do to make sure the

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Speaker 2: best version possible is past. Something's going to help you

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Speaker 2: and your deer hunting and you're you know, hunting properties

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Speaker 2: and all the other things that kind of ripple out

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Speaker 2: from that. That's the plan today. But before that, I

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Speaker 2: do want to point out that if you're listening to

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Speaker 2: this on launch day or somewhere around it, you know,

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Speaker 2: April twentieth of twenty twenty three or so, you should

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Speaker 2: know that this coming Saturday, April twenty second is Earth Day.

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Speaker 2: And I don't know what your take is on Earth Day.

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Speaker 2: I don't know. It was something that I was always

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Speaker 2: aware of growing up. I don't know if it was

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Speaker 2: something that I always quote unquote celebrated or participated in,

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Speaker 2: but it was something that I think was always a

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Speaker 2: good excuse to, you know, talk about some kind of

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Speaker 2: environmental cause, go out and pick up some trash or

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Speaker 2: something during school. That's kind of what Earth Day meant

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Speaker 2: to me, maybe as a kid growing up, but now

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Speaker 2: as an adult, as someone who you know, is pretty

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Speaker 2: active and interested in this whole conservation sphere of stuff

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Speaker 2: in the world. I guess the more I think about

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Speaker 2: Earth Day, the more I think about this being an

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Speaker 2: event or a holiday, or something that we hunters and

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Speaker 2: anglers can claim as our own. This doesn't have to

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Speaker 2: be something that's just you know, talked about and participated

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Speaker 2: in by folks driving a Prius in San Francisco. This

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Speaker 2: could be something that me driving a Ram fifteen hundred

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Speaker 2: that likes to hunt and fish. I can participate in

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Speaker 2: Earth Day, and I should be excited about it just

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Speaker 2: as much as anyone else, because I think history would indicate.

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Speaker 2: I think it backs up the claim that hunters and

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Speaker 2: anglers are the original conservationists, some of the original most

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Speaker 2: impactful environmentalists. This is our day just as much as

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Speaker 2: anyone else's. And with that being said, you know, I personally,

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Speaker 2: at least I am excited to get out there this

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Speaker 2: Saturday and get involved. We have our second event of

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Speaker 2: our Working for Wildlife Tour coming up Saturday, April twenty second,

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, up in Michigan. So if you live

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Speaker 2: in my home state of Michigan, I would love to

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Speaker 2: see you up in the northern part of the MIT.

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Speaker 2: We are going to be building small game habitat, creating

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Speaker 2: brush piles, maintaining wildlife openings, doing some really cool stuff

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Speaker 2: on some public land up there in Kalkaska. You can

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Speaker 2: get the full details about that and how to register

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Speaker 2: and where to show up all that if you just

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Speaker 2: Google Working for Wildlife Tour and then you'll find the

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Speaker 2: links there to the registration page all the details need.

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Speaker 2: I think it's from nine thirty to two, with partnership

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Speaker 2: or in partnership with MUCC. I already told you what

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Speaker 2: we're doing. I'm going to bring T shirts that I'll

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Speaker 2: be giving away to the first twenty five volunteers out there.

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Speaker 2: There's also going to be a social get together at

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Speaker 2: the Bear Lake Inn afterwards. I think that's like from

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Speaker 2: three to six, give or take somewhere in that ballpark.

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Speaker 2: We'll be getting some food, hanging out talking. I'm excited

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Speaker 2: to meet a bunch of you, hear your hunting and

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Speaker 2: fishing stories, see some pictures, and make some great wildlife

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Speaker 2: habitat too. But you know that's not all. There are

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Speaker 2: also events similar to this, you know, all over the country.

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Speaker 2: So if you're not in Michigan, don't feel bad. There

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Speaker 2: are things you can do get outside and participate in

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Speaker 2: earth that. And I did just a little bit of

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Speaker 2: googling and I found a handful of different things very quickly.

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Speaker 2: Take for example, if you are a backcountry hunters and

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Speaker 2: anglers kind of person, there is a wood duck box

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Speaker 2: building event over in Brunswick, Vermont, this Saturday. If you're

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Speaker 2: down in Ohio, there is a tree planting event in

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Speaker 2: the Wayne National Forest in Nelsonville, Ohio. Here's some stuff

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Speaker 2: being down by Trout Unlimited. They've got a bunch of

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Speaker 2: different river cleanup events all over the country, every different

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Speaker 2: neck of the woods. There's one I just saw in

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Speaker 2: Mianis River in Connecticut. There's another one on the Harpeth

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Speaker 2: River in Tennessee uh Pheasants forever. If you're an upland

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Speaker 2: kind of person, they've got some habitat work days going on.

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Speaker 2: I saw one and have a land Kansas. I saw

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Speaker 2: one in Worthington, Minnesota. So do a little bit of

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Speaker 2: online searching with whatever organization you enjoy working with the most,

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Speaker 2: or you can just search, like you know, Earth Day

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Speaker 2: events in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and there's gonna be a

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Speaker 2: whole bunch of different things pop up. My you know.

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Speaker 2: Encouragement to you is to get out there, have some

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Speaker 2: fun with it, give back a little bit, but most

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Speaker 2: of all, I think it's just gonna be a good time.

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Speaker 2: I've been preaching this over the last few weeks, so sorry,

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Speaker 2: same old message, but uh man, it's just true. It

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Speaker 2: is fun to be outside, to do some good work

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Speaker 2: on the land, and to do it with some other

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Speaker 2: people that enjoy wildlife, that enjoy hunting, that enjoy fishing,

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Speaker 2: that enjoy the great outdoors. What more could you ask for? People?

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Speaker 2: That's just the good life. So I hope to see

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Speaker 2: you this Saturday, April twenty second in Michigan, and if not,

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Speaker 2: can't wait to see your patures on social media and

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Speaker 2: to hear your stories about all the other good stuff

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Speaker 2: that's going on in your own region. So with all

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Speaker 2: that out of the way, let's get into this conversation

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Speaker 2: about the twenty twenty three Farm Bill. I know sometimes

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Speaker 2: these legislation related episodes maybe aren't the most I don't know, riveting,

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Speaker 2: but it's something that really matters, and it's something that

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Speaker 2: we actually can have an impact on. We as citizens

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Speaker 2: in America, have a voice and an opportunity to influence

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Speaker 2: our representatives in Washington, DC and in this case, get

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Speaker 2: some very serious funding for programs that make a real

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Speaker 2: tangible difference on the ground. So let's make it happen. People,

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Speaker 2: Let's get this bill in its best possible version for

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Speaker 2: wildlife past and today. Wit and Aaron are going to

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Speaker 2: help us understand exactly how we can do that. So

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Speaker 2: without further ado, here we go. All right with me

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Speaker 2: now on the show, I've got Witt Fossburg and Aaron Field. Gentlemen,

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Speaker 2: thank you so much for being here.

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Speaker 3: Great to be on, Mark.

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Speaker 4: Thanks for having us Mark.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I you know, I'm going to put a challenge

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Speaker 2: to the both of you, which is that we need

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Speaker 2: to make a farm bill podcast riveting and entertaining. Okay,

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Speaker 2: can you do that? Erin, We've had Wit on here before.

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Speaker 2: I know what you can bring the goods, but Erin

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Speaker 2: can you can you bring the goods on this one.

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Speaker 4: You know, if I had to choose two adjectives to

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Speaker 4: describe myself, it'd be riveting and entertaining.

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Speaker 2: So okay, yeah, we can do it perfect. So then

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Speaker 2: I think we're good shape the conversation today. I think,

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Speaker 2: you know, while there's a lot of acronyms, there's a

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Speaker 2: lot of jargon. Maybe sometimes when you get into this

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Speaker 2: kind of legislation, it seems like this is really really important.

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Speaker 2: This is a conversation that's worth having for a number

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Speaker 2: of reasons. So I guess the first thing, though, I

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Speaker 2: want to kind of lay a foundation for folks. If

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Speaker 2: people don't know why in the world a deer hunting

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Speaker 2: podcast is talking about a farm bill. Let's get that covered.

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Speaker 2: So what do you want to maybe lay us a

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Speaker 2: quick ground grounding on what the farm bill is and why.

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Speaker 2: I think I just heard you a couple of days

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Speaker 2: mentioned this is one of the largest pieces of conservation

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Speaker 2: legislation around it all.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's actually is the largest single conservation legislation

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Speaker 3: in the US federal policy. And if you think about,

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Speaker 3: you know, the way the US is set up, if

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Speaker 3: you take out alask seventy of the land in the

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Speaker 3: continental US is privately owned, and about half of that

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Speaker 3: is an agriculture of forestry raising in the traditional agricultural practices,

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Speaker 3: and the majority of honting in this country half is

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Speaker 3: on private land. We have six hundred and forty million

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Speaker 3: acres of public lands, which especially for the West, do

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Speaker 3: you do a lot of your honey on, But in

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Speaker 3: the East and the Midwest, even in parts of the West,

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Speaker 3: a lot of that honey is happening on private lands.

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Speaker 3: And you know, the farm Bill was created back in

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Speaker 3: nineteen eighty five with the Conservation Title, the modern conservation title,

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Speaker 3: when there was a real crisis in you know, the

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Speaker 3: agg in farm country. I got a lot of small

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Speaker 3: farmers going under is where you had farm aid and

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Speaker 3: all that, and it surreally Congress created this basically to

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Speaker 3: pay farmers not to farm, and that was the Conservation

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Speaker 3: Reserve program. That's when that started. And it turned out

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Speaker 3: there were so many ansilary benefits to instead of just

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Speaker 3: not farming and keeping people on the land that you know,

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Speaker 3: this became really a major part of the farm bell

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Speaker 3: and it grew from those early parts of the eighties

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Speaker 3: and even going back after the dust Bowl We've had

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Speaker 3: some basic farm bell programs, but today it's a six

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Speaker 3: billion dollar program annually and there are you know, one

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Speaker 3: hundred and fifty million plus, you know, acres out there.

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Speaker 3: Their role in the conservation, you know, basically conservation you know,

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Speaker 3: titled the Farm Bill one of these other different programs,

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Speaker 3: and really these are all voluntary programs, so it's very different.

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Speaker 3: You think about the traditional environmental laws where they're regulatory,

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Speaker 3: you know, like the Clean Water Act and Clean Interact.

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Speaker 3: A lot of that is based on which you cannot do,

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Speaker 3: and the Farm Bill is a different paradigm here as

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Speaker 3: we're looking at incentives for private lenders that want to

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Speaker 3: do the right thing. And you know, it's been incredibly

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Speaker 3: successful and very popular in farm country. And if you

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Speaker 3: want white tailed deer, you hunt seasands, you hunt ducks,

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Speaker 3: you fish for trout. It makes a big difference in

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Speaker 3: what you do. And it also has other benefits. For example,

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Speaker 3: to accept the CRP a conservation reserve program, for example,

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Speaker 3: is a long waterways. You're also helping water quality, water quantity,

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Speaker 3: and you know, so identefits beyond justicial wildlife.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you mentioned that fifty percent of the United States

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Speaker 2: is is crop line or pasture range, different things like that.

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Speaker 2: I saw one of the stats when I was doing

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Speaker 2: some reading up on your website that of that fifty

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Speaker 2: percent of the land, those that amount of our country

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Speaker 2: is in the hands of less than two percent of

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Speaker 2: our citizens. So it's kind of a profound influence that

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Speaker 2: these folks that steer those lands have on the conservation

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Speaker 2: of our you know, so much of the public impacts

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Speaker 2: of that land and the wildlife it fosters. So, Aaron,

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Speaker 2: would you add anything to what Witch said to kind

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Speaker 2: of give us the groundwork on why this thing matters.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think we covered it well. I would

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Speaker 4: double back onto that comment about these are voluntary, incentive

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Speaker 4: based programs and landowners really like them. Just to give

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Speaker 4: you a couple of statistics, there's the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program.

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Speaker 4: Only about six percent of applications to that program by

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Speaker 4: landowners actually get funded. Another one, Environmental Quality and centice program.

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Speaker 4: Only thirty percent qualified applications get funded through that program

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Speaker 4: right now. So there's a whole bunch of landowners, a

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Speaker 4: whole bunch of farmers and ranchers and forest landowners who

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Speaker 4: wants to use these programs to do right by the

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Speaker 4: land and can't do it right now because we're not

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Speaker 4: funding it.

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Speaker 2: What's the scale of some of this? I get maybe

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Speaker 2: you said it. Do you say one hundred and thirty

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Speaker 2: some million acres or something that's enrolled in one of

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Speaker 2: these programs. Is that I hear that right?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? I think it's somewhere around hundred and sixty Yeah,

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Speaker 3: I thought eron, you may have a more exact number

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Speaker 3: than I do. But it's a significant chuck of the ground.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So it's it's it's a real noticeable, impactful amount

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Speaker 2: of you know, landscape that right now has healthy wildlife

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Speaker 2: habitat on it in some form, rather than what it

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Speaker 2: might have otherwise, which would have been a monoculture or

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Speaker 2: a dirt field or something that likely would not be

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Speaker 2: nearly as good for hunters, would not be as good

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Speaker 2: for the stream quality and fish in those adjacent areas.

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Speaker 2: Is there is there any kind of trend that we've

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Speaker 2: seen in recent years when it comes to how the

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Speaker 2: farm bill is progressing. You mentioned it, you know, started

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Speaker 2: back in the dust bowl with some early farm programs,

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Speaker 2: then it was kind of codified in the eighties with

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Speaker 2: the with the current farm bill, as we call it now.

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Speaker 2: In the subsequent years, it's an every five year program

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Speaker 2: it gets reauthorized, and there seems to be a whole

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Speaker 2: bunch of change that come every half decade. What has

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Speaker 2: the history been, Aaron as far as where this farm

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Speaker 2: bill is trending? Are we going in a good direction

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Speaker 2: or have programs been getting cut and we're seeing the

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Speaker 2: impact get you know, dwindling down over time. What have

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Speaker 2: we seen and where does it feel like we're going now?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, So the twenty fourteen Farm bill was pretty tough

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Speaker 4: for these programs, several cuts. Twenty eighteen was technically budget neutral,

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Speaker 4: but once you factor in inflation, that ends up being

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Speaker 4: a cut to programs over time. We are expecting right

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Speaker 4: now that this current bill that folks are working on

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Speaker 4: is going to be at least close to budget neutral,

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Speaker 4: which again comes down to a cut once you factory

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Speaker 4: in inflation. We did see a big boost to these

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Speaker 4: programs through a reconciliation bill at the end of last year,

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Speaker 4: ended up putting about twenty billion dollars into many of

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Speaker 4: the farm bill conservation programs that we like to see.

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Speaker 4: And so sort of the mid range trend has been negative,

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Speaker 4: but we've got a big chunk of opportunity that we

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Speaker 4: haven't had in a long time in these programs right now.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so so that's part of this this new title

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Speaker 2: to funding that essentially correct me if I'm wrong here,

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Speaker 2: but if I understand right, there's a doubling of conservation

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Speaker 2: funding for this year's farm bill. Is that right?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, technically it's not farm bill funding, but it's private

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Speaker 3: land conservation funding. I mean, you know, it's only farm

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Speaker 3: bell funding that passes through a farm bill. So the

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Speaker 3: semantics here, but essentially what we've done is, you know,

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Speaker 3: double the conservation title the Farm Bill due to the

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Speaker 3: you know, the programs that Aaron talked about the past,

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Speaker 3: you know, this fall. There's one exception to that, you know,

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Speaker 3: the Conservation Reserve Program because of the you know, the

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Speaker 3: weird rules by which the reconsiliation was passed, it was

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Speaker 3: not included in it. So essentially you're going to see

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Speaker 3: big additions to the other core programs of the conformation

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Speaker 3: titled the Farm Bill, but not to CRP, which has

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Speaker 3: really been going through some tough time in recent years.

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Speaker 3: We'll finally seeing an uptick in CRP enrollment, but it's

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Speaker 3: not nearly where we'd like it to be right now.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So one more question before we kind of get

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Speaker 2: into some of the nitty gritty, because I do want

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Speaker 2: to dive into, you know, the actual programs, the actual

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Speaker 2: stuff this is getting on the ground. But one thing

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Speaker 2: that's always, I guess, kind of perplexing I think for

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Speaker 2: a lot of even for me who follows the stuff

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Speaker 2: pretty closely, is what the you know, what actually has

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Speaker 2: to go on behind the scenes to make this stuff happen.

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Speaker 2: I always lean on my elementary school education and the

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Speaker 2: schoolhouse rock you know what a bill whatever that bill

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Speaker 2: song was. That's basically the extent of my background of

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Speaker 2: how a bill makes it to Capitol Hill. Can you

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Speaker 2: walk us through what actually is going to be happening

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Speaker 2: between now and the date when this will be authorized

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Speaker 2: for twenty twenty three, What conversations are having, what committee

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Speaker 2: hearings are having, what actually is going to happen.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll jump in here, and then Aaron, if I've

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Speaker 3: missed anything, feel free to elaborate. But as you mentioned

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Speaker 3: that every farm bill passes essentially every five years, give

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Speaker 3: or take, and you know, so you and then there's

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Speaker 3: the real challenge that implementation. So our community is engaged

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Speaker 3: at two different levels. So as we're gearing up to

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Speaker 3: this farm bill, as previous farm bills, we assemble the

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Speaker 3: overall community of hunting and fishing groups and is something we

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Speaker 3: call our Agriculture Wildlife Working Group and that's twenty six

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Speaker 3: twenty seven different groups that meet regularly. Aaron supervises that

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Speaker 3: group and herds the cats and we come up with

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Speaker 3: a recommendation from our community what we want to see

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Speaker 3: in the conservation title the farm bill, and then you know,

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Speaker 3: we and the other groups that have lobbying capacity will

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Speaker 3: make sure that you know that happens. Hearings are going

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Speaker 3: on already on this and a lot of the way

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Speaker 3: it works is they're going to be changes made in

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Speaker 3: the program. You will see what are known as marker bills,

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Speaker 3: so individual, you know, chunks of legislation that will get

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Speaker 3: dropped in to be discussed that may be you know,

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Speaker 3: something like the Conservation and SERVEI program and what we

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Speaker 3: can do to make it better, you know, both for

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Speaker 3: the landowner as well as for the environment. And you know,

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Speaker 3: so you know there is a built in to do

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Speaker 3: that right now that you know, we'll see some hearings

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Speaker 3: on there are other marker bills on various other aspects

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Speaker 3: of the farm bill, and then the committee, the Agriculture Committee,

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Speaker 3: and the House and the Senate. We'll do hearings in

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Speaker 3: d C. And they'll do field hearings around the country.

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Speaker 3: The have the input on you know, these marker bills

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Speaker 3: or the overall program in general. And then in theory,

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Speaker 3: a bill passes and then we have implementation. And there's

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Speaker 3: a major challenge of the implementation too, and so there

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Speaker 3: has to be a technical assistance money. There has to

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Speaker 3: be real engagements from groups like Centence, Forever Bucks, Unlimited

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Speaker 3: Rough Grouse Society, the groups that have on the ground

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Speaker 3: that really work in partnership with the agencies and with

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Speaker 3: the landowners to get conservation and going on the ground.

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Speaker 3: And also that process sends recommendations back up to us

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Speaker 3: in Washington to saying, hey, this is working really well,

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Speaker 3: but this isn't working so well. We would love to

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Speaker 3: see some changes either on the administrative side as this

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Speaker 3: gets implemented or necessary as we think about the next

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Speaker 3: farm bill. Here are things that legislatively need to be

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Speaker 3: fixed for this program to work better so it works

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Speaker 3: both directions from DC down and then from the field

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Speaker 3: back up to us and it gets evolves every five years, Aaron,

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Speaker 3: if I covered that about right, Yeah, that's.

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Speaker 4: That's the great summary. The addition I would make, I guess,

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Speaker 4: is taking a step back to actually coming up with

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Speaker 4: this list of priorities mentioned. We've got a large partner group.

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Speaker 4: That group come together for a period of months and

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Speaker 4: basically organizations would propose an item for our farm build

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Speaker 4: platform and it would be discussed, to be debated, it

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Speaker 4: would be vetted. If say a group proposed something that

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Speaker 4: would be great for trout, but it wouldn't be good

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Speaker 4: for you know, prairie grouse, that item wouldn't make the platform.

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Speaker 4: So it's really just it's a great opportunity to bring

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Speaker 4: all of these different groups together, get them talking, get

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Speaker 4: them everybody on the same page as to what needs

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Speaker 4: to happen in these programs to make them work for

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Speaker 4: fish and wildlife as well as landowners, and then we

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Speaker 4: can take that next step that was describing where we're

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Speaker 4: getting it up on the hill and getting it paid

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Speaker 4: attention to.

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Speaker 3: So who and Mark, if you go back to really

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Speaker 3: part of the reason that Tirasity was created was to

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Speaker 3: make sure that we brought the community together on issues

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Speaker 3: like that because in the old days, you know, the

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Speaker 3: commodity groups to go into a room, they would come

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Speaker 3: out with a farm bill position and they would stick

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Speaker 3: to it the entire way through negotiations. Our community would

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Speaker 3: go into a room, come out the position, and as

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Speaker 3: soon as the going got tough, we would you break

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Speaker 3: apart like a cup of quail, trying to cut the

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Speaker 3: best deal they could for their critter. And as a result,

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Speaker 3: you know, we were just we kept losing, and really

406
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Speaker 3: was two thousand and eight Farm Bill where you know,

407
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Speaker 3: we finally the community came together and locked arms and

408
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Speaker 3: stayed locked and that has really been the ascension of

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Speaker 3: the modern conservation titled the farm Bill.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so, so who are these or can you give

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Speaker 2: me some examples of who these folks or organizations are

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Speaker 2: that have helped you guys put together this set of

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Speaker 2: priorities that you're taking to the hill. You mentioned some

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Speaker 2: yeah organizations in passing, but who had a seat at

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Speaker 2: this table?

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Speaker 3: So I'm not going to read through the whole twenty

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Speaker 3: seven groups. But the big ones are, you know with

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Speaker 3: Duck Sun Limited, fens for Over, Trotto Limited, the Association

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Speaker 3: of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Turkey Federation, National Deer Association,

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Speaker 3: you know, and you know a multitude of others. Land

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Speaker 3: trust community is involved with that because things like the

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Speaker 3: conservation easement programs in the farm Bill are really implemented

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Speaker 3: by the land trust community. So it is you know,

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Speaker 3: Aaron might missing anybody big in there.

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Speaker 4: I mean, it's it's a it's a long list in

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Speaker 4: which right not to try to read through the whole thing,

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Speaker 4: but I just say that there is expertise in each

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Speaker 4: of these groups in the different programs. If we had

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Speaker 4: to rely just on my knowledge, we would have a

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Speaker 4: much shorter list of priorities here and it would be

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Speaker 4: a lot a lot less useful. So we've got a

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Speaker 4: great group in the Egg and Wildlife Working Group who

433
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,159
Speaker 4: put this in first. You know, folks can go on

434
00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,879
Speaker 4: our website TRC dot org and you know, just search

435
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:06,640
Speaker 4: farm bill and you'll see, you know, the basics about

436
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:09,119
Speaker 4: how the program works. You'll see our recommendations of the

437
00:25:09,119 --> 00:25:12,199
Speaker 4: twenty twenty three Farm Bill. You'll see the groups that

438
00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 4: find our recommendations that went up to Congress. So a

439
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:18,080
Speaker 4: lot of that will be you know, anybody who's.

440
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:20,360
Speaker 3: You know that curious can go and get all the details.

441
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:36,960
Speaker 2: Okay, So when I when I think about this upcoming,

442
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:40,960
Speaker 2: you know, moving into this year and the authorization of

443
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,080
Speaker 2: this bill, there's a number of different priorities that I

444
00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:45,639
Speaker 2: know you guys have listed out as part of the

445
00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:49,120
Speaker 2: process working with this group. But before we get into

446
00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:52,879
Speaker 2: what those opportunities and priority areas are, I'm curious if

447
00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:56,119
Speaker 2: there's any overarching threats, Like if there's a bunch of

448
00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:58,159
Speaker 2: things we want, but is there anything that we're worried

449
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:02,280
Speaker 2: about losing or having slashed? Is there anything like that

450
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:05,399
Speaker 2: that's looming over this process that we have to make

451
00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:08,200
Speaker 2: sure we defend against. What does anything come to mind

452
00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 2: when I bring that side of things up.

453
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:13,040
Speaker 3: Well, I think that one of the big challenges we're

454
00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:16,359
Speaker 3: going to have is, you know that new money you

455
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:19,040
Speaker 3: know that came through the you know, the Inflation Reduction Act,

456
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:21,919
Speaker 3: the Reconciliation Bill, the Comment Bill. You know, how do

457
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 3: we make that part of the permanent baseline of the

458
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:27,440
Speaker 3: Farm Bill moving forward? I mean it's you know that

459
00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,080
Speaker 3: twenty billion dollars is great, is going to make a

460
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:34,120
Speaker 3: huge difference in programs for the next few years, but

461
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:37,159
Speaker 3: you know, really that auto represents a new baseline for

462
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:40,719
Speaker 3: that farm Dell because as Aaron mentioned before, there is

463
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:43,720
Speaker 3: twice as much demand out there for landowners. They're raising

464
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:46,040
Speaker 3: our hand that want to be in this program, then

465
00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:48,160
Speaker 3: there is money to pay for him. We finally solve

466
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:51,080
Speaker 3: that in the short term, but we want to make

467
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:54,240
Speaker 3: sure that doesn't slide backwards and we're having a bunch

468
00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,159
Speaker 3: of land that goes into conservation that falls out of

469
00:26:57,200 --> 00:27:00,640
Speaker 3: it five years from now. And you know, I think that,

470
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:03,280
Speaker 3: you know, that's just not fair to the landowner and

471
00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:06,679
Speaker 3: must be something clear here. Nobody is enrolling their best

472
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 3: corn and soybean fields into conservation programs. It is the

473
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:15,680
Speaker 3: marginal lands that may fail every other year, every third year,

474
00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:19,040
Speaker 3: that really aren't the best for farming to begin with.

475
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:22,520
Speaker 3: Those are the ones that are getting enrolled. So you know,

476
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:25,240
Speaker 3: we're not I mean, I am not worried about us

477
00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:27,479
Speaker 3: not being able to feed the world by entering more

478
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:31,400
Speaker 3: land into farm conservation. In fact, we're giving basically more

479
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:35,000
Speaker 3: benefits to the farmers, you know, more security, more conscious

480
00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:37,080
Speaker 3: what they can do long term. So I think it

481
00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:39,280
Speaker 3: actually enhances the farm security.

482
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,119
Speaker 2: Yeah, how likely is this is? This idea of being

483
00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:45,040
Speaker 2: able to make this the new baseline. Is this like

484
00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:47,480
Speaker 2: a pie in the sky cross our fingers, wish and

485
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,600
Speaker 2: dream or is that a realistic possibility with the right pressure.

486
00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:53,720
Speaker 3: I think with the right pressure, I think it's a

487
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:56,240
Speaker 3: realistic possibility. I mean, it's not a slam dunk by

488
00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:59,359
Speaker 3: any means. But in part of our job, this is

489
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:02,879
Speaker 3: convinced risk that this makes sense on multiple levels. It

490
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:05,640
Speaker 3: makes sense from the landowner, it makes sense for the environment,

491
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:08,080
Speaker 3: It makes sense for the hunters and anglers out there.

492
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:10,440
Speaker 3: If you care about climate change, this is the way

493
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:14,280
Speaker 3: to sequester a whole bunch of carbon. And you know so,

494
00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:17,560
Speaker 3: I mean, and it's all voluntary. So I think that

495
00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:19,719
Speaker 3: we can make that case. And I think that you know,

496
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:22,679
Speaker 3: the folks who don't like government overreach, you know, this

497
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:24,439
Speaker 3: is not a program to target. You know, there are

498
00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:27,240
Speaker 3: a lot of other more mandatory programs you know that

499
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:29,159
Speaker 3: in the farm maybe not in the farm bell but

500
00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:32,439
Speaker 3: in certainly Western the way government works that ought to

501
00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,760
Speaker 3: have their ire and not these voluntary programs that pretty

502
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:37,240
Speaker 3: much are win wins for everybody.

503
00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:42,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's your what's your read on the impact of

504
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:47,120
Speaker 2: the hunter and angler community voice on these kinds of things?

505
00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:49,840
Speaker 2: I mean we were chatting the other day about how,

506
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:54,520
Speaker 2: you know, on typical environmental things, there's going to be

507
00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:58,480
Speaker 2: there's almost a superpower maybe that hunter, hunters and anglers

508
00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:01,000
Speaker 2: have because we can speak to a side of the

509
00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:04,720
Speaker 2: aisle maybe that isn't typically as interested in this kind

510
00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:08,080
Speaker 2: of conversation. Can you expand on that at all? Is

511
00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:10,240
Speaker 2: there any truth to that? You know what?

512
00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:10,880
Speaker 4: Well?

513
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:14,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, Mark, I mean I think that you know,

514
00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:17,360
Speaker 3: first of all, I mean we end up being very

515
00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:19,680
Speaker 3: aligned with private land. In our community. They pretty much

516
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:23,480
Speaker 3: all hunting fish and you know, the folks that hunt

517
00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:26,240
Speaker 3: and fish are very aligned with them. So there's a

518
00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:29,000
Speaker 3: good synergy there. But also, I mean we're not your

519
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:33,040
Speaker 3: traditional environmental voice. I mean we're not we're litigating. We're

520
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:35,200
Speaker 3: not you know, shrill, you know, sort of left to

521
00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:39,200
Speaker 3: environmentalists or whatever the stereotype might be. I mean, we're

522
00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:41,920
Speaker 3: folks that are out there that use the land, that

523
00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:45,920
Speaker 3: you care about making sure the open spaces stay open spaces,

524
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:49,120
Speaker 3: but that the farmers stay on the land. And so

525
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,000
Speaker 3: I think when you've seen this in different ways, I mean,

526
00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:55,000
Speaker 3: when our community stood up for public lands, it completely

527
00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,920
Speaker 3: changed the dialogue in that time back in the mid

528
00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:03,960
Speaker 3: two thousands or in twenty thirteen, fourteen, fifteen sixteen, you know,

529
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,480
Speaker 3: there was a lot of momentum to basically get rid

530
00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:09,000
Speaker 3: of public lands transformed to the states to sell them

531
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,200
Speaker 3: off for profit, and it was really our community is

532
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,560
Speaker 3: standing up for that and flexing this muscle on something

533
00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:18,040
Speaker 3: other than the Second Amendment that really turned the tide.

534
00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:20,080
Speaker 3: And I think that we can do that on farm

535
00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 3: bill too. But part of our job, and I'm glad

536
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,480
Speaker 3: you're doing this podcast, is to educate the average hunter

537
00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:27,640
Speaker 3: of fishermen out there that these programs are really important,

538
00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,800
Speaker 3: not just for fish and wat not just for environmental quality,

539
00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:34,800
Speaker 3: but also for things like access. I mean, Aaron, we'll

540
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,960
Speaker 3: talk about this voluntary public access having to have improvement program,

541
00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:41,400
Speaker 3: but that is right now basically pays for about three

542
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:44,200
Speaker 3: million acres of private lands to be opened for public

543
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:47,640
Speaker 3: hunting and fishing. So it's an access program as well.

544
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:50,640
Speaker 3: But a lot of our community just doesn't understand it

545
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,240
Speaker 3: and doesn't know the benefits that it brings. That think

546
00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:57,040
Speaker 3: this is something that is not relevant to them.

547
00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:00,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so true. Let's talk about some of that stuff,

548
00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,560
Speaker 2: some of the programs that make this so relevant. For

549
00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:06,040
Speaker 2: folks like the three of us and anybody else who

550
00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:09,120
Speaker 2: likes to hunt and fish. Aaron, if you will do

551
00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:12,640
Speaker 2: me this favor, I'm gonna throw at you a couple

552
00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:16,720
Speaker 2: of the high kind of profile programs, and I'll give

553
00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:21,040
Speaker 2: kind of my layman's understanding of the program, and then

554
00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:23,960
Speaker 2: I'll ask you to correct me, to fill in the blanks,

555
00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:27,000
Speaker 2: to flesh it out and give us the expert point

556
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:31,040
Speaker 2: of view. And then from there, I'm curious to hear

557
00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:33,200
Speaker 2: you know, what are we looking forward with this program

558
00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:34,560
Speaker 2: in the new farm Bill? So that's kind of my

559
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,200
Speaker 2: plan to walk through these next couple big programs. And

560
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:41,719
Speaker 2: let's start with CRP, because that's I think a headliner

561
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:44,280
Speaker 2: whenever we talk about the Farm Bill, and it's something

562
00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:46,120
Speaker 2: that a lot of hunters do have some kind of

563
00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:50,120
Speaker 2: experience with. I have to admit that I knew of

564
00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:54,040
Speaker 2: CRP before I even understood what the acronym stood for.

565
00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:57,280
Speaker 2: I just thought that's what people call brushy grassy fields.

566
00:31:57,880 --> 00:31:59,960
Speaker 2: I didn't really realize that was a program behind it.

567
00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:03,640
Speaker 2: And I guess that means it's successful if we've now

568
00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:07,560
Speaker 2: started to define a type of landscape by the program

569
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:11,280
Speaker 2: that has made it possible. But here's my layman's understanding

570
00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:16,520
Speaker 2: of CRP. This is a program that pays a per

571
00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:18,960
Speaker 2: acre on a per acre basis to a farmer to

572
00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:21,920
Speaker 2: take land out of farm production. So he'll take an

573
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:24,680
Speaker 2: acre out of corn or soybeans or something and instead

574
00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:29,960
Speaker 2: plant some kind of other native I think always native

575
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,840
Speaker 2: grasses forbes, mixed different things like this, getting some kind

576
00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:37,960
Speaker 2: of different habitat type on the landscape. That's better for wildlife,

577
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 2: that's better for the soil quality, it's better for carbon sequestration,

578
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:45,360
Speaker 2: water filtration, all these different things. And there's a number

579
00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:48,520
Speaker 2: of different programs to help fund that, to monitor that,

580
00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:51,200
Speaker 2: to make sure that land's being taken care of in

581
00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:55,000
Speaker 2: a way that's good for all, while also paying that farmer,

582
00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:58,600
Speaker 2: you know, fair market price for that land. And so

583
00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:01,000
Speaker 2: that is what leads to like you mentioned, with one

584
00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:03,520
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty some million acres or however many are

585
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:05,320
Speaker 2: actually in CRP, I guess it's not that many. It's

586
00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:08,480
Speaker 2: something like twenty seven million or something. But a bunch

587
00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:12,360
Speaker 2: of land in this great habitat for deer, great habitat

588
00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:15,480
Speaker 2: for birds, pheasants, all that kind of stuff. It's the

589
00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:17,400
Speaker 2: favorite kind of place I like to hunt near where

590
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:20,240
Speaker 2: I can see into these grassy fields, great cover for

591
00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:22,680
Speaker 2: deer to bed in. There's still some food in there too.

592
00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:25,480
Speaker 2: During the rut there's always bucks cruising around the down

593
00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:27,640
Speaker 2: wind edges of those types of spots. I mean, it's

594
00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:31,400
Speaker 2: primo habitat. So that's what I know at a very

595
00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:35,800
Speaker 2: high level about CRP. What should a hunter know outside

596
00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:38,200
Speaker 2: of that? Or said more eloquently than I could air?

597
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 4: Well, you actually you nailed it. Actually, I love that description,

598
00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:45,520
Speaker 4: and I think pointing out the deer habitat benefits to

599
00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:48,520
Speaker 4: CRP is something we haven't always done a great job of.

600
00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:53,040
Speaker 4: Pheasant hunters know it well. Duck hunters know it real well,

601
00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:56,320
Speaker 4: especially if you put that CRP up in the prairie

602
00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:59,880
Speaker 4: pothole region where we're growing a bunch of ducks. The

603
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,840
Speaker 4: other thing you mentioned where you know where I live.

604
00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:05,880
Speaker 4: I live in western Minnesota. If there's grass and there's

605
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:09,080
Speaker 4: knock hows on it, people just refer to it as CRP.

606
00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:11,239
Speaker 4: It doesn't matter what it actually is enrolled in and

607
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:14,279
Speaker 4: whether it's enrolled in a program at all. So got

608
00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:18,560
Speaker 4: some name recognition there, which is great, But basically you

609
00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:23,680
Speaker 4: hit most of the program. I'll say one thing, you said,

610
00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:25,560
Speaker 4: pay a fair rental rate. For the most part, we're

611
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:27,920
Speaker 4: not paying a fair rental rate right now. We're relying

612
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:32,240
Speaker 4: on landowners out of their goodness of their heart to

613
00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:37,200
Speaker 4: sign up for this program. In most places, the amount

614
00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:40,400
Speaker 4: we're able to pay is just really not competitive with

615
00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:43,799
Speaker 4: crop production right now. And that's one of the main

616
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,480
Speaker 4: reasons where we've got about twenty three million acres enrolled

617
00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:51,400
Speaker 4: in the CRP right now, we should have about twenty

618
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:55,000
Speaker 4: seven million acres, and a lot of that has to

619
00:34:55,040 --> 00:35:00,480
Speaker 4: do with rental rates. But yeah, you're taking typic real

620
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:05,759
Speaker 4: marginal land that is high risk for crop production. And

621
00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:10,160
Speaker 4: often what a lot of people don't realize is a

622
00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:13,280
Speaker 4: certain percentage of just about every egg every crop field

623
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:16,520
Speaker 4: in the country is costing the farmer money to farm.

624
00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:19,880
Speaker 4: It might be too wet, it might be too steep,

625
00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:23,920
Speaker 4: the soil might be too heavily eroded. You might have

626
00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:27,239
Speaker 4: you know, saline or sodaic issues. Anyway, there's a lot

627
00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:30,040
Speaker 4: of reasons that can happen, but something like five to

628
00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:32,840
Speaker 4: fifteen percent, depending on where you are in the country,

629
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:36,439
Speaker 4: you're actually losing money on because we're paying for seed,

630
00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:39,640
Speaker 4: we're paying for fertilizer and we're not getting that crop

631
00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:43,480
Speaker 4: production out of it anyway. We're taking acres like that

632
00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:49,919
Speaker 4: typically putting them into conservation cover something that makes good

633
00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:56,279
Speaker 4: nesting habitat, makes good betting habitat, stops soil erosion, and

634
00:35:56,960 --> 00:36:00,640
Speaker 4: basically just putting it in a higher use. We find

635
00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:03,000
Speaker 4: folks up for a ten to fifteen, in some cases

636
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:08,440
Speaker 4: thirty year contract to keep that cover in place, and

637
00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:11,600
Speaker 4: then we asked them to take care of it.

638
00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:15,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is something that I know a lot

639
00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:20,400
Speaker 2: of even land managers, you know, who own tracks of

640
00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:23,759
Speaker 2: land primarily for a wildlife even at least look to

641
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:25,520
Speaker 2: try to get involved. And I know there's some folks

642
00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:27,360
Speaker 2: I know who've been able to get their own land

643
00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:31,400
Speaker 2: into a CRPRE program or something similar, and you know,

644
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:35,000
Speaker 2: within that there's flexibility to plant these different mixes. But

645
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:37,360
Speaker 2: then also there might be room for some food plots

646
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:39,759
Speaker 2: even within that. So I know this is kind of

647
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:43,320
Speaker 2: in the side, but the CRP program and similar programs

648
00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:47,080
Speaker 2: are an interesting option for recreational landowners to try to

649
00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:51,680
Speaker 2: get into as a way to somewhat help subsidize habitat

650
00:36:51,719 --> 00:36:55,560
Speaker 2: improvement projects that benefit you know, downstream and across the

651
00:36:55,640 --> 00:37:00,319
Speaker 2: kind of the ripple effects of a specific property. But

652
00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:03,720
Speaker 2: I guess that's neither here nor there. My biggest question

653
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:08,080
Speaker 2: for you, Aaron, given that CRP is it has been capped,

654
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:09,960
Speaker 2: how many acres are allowed to get into it? And then,

655
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:13,080
Speaker 2: as you mentioned, we're not necessarily paying a rate that

656
00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:17,040
Speaker 2: makes it competitive with what the market is paying folks

657
00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:20,719
Speaker 2: for their crop. What is it that we're asking for

658
00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:22,879
Speaker 2: in this round of the Farm bill when it comes

659
00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:25,640
Speaker 2: to CRP. What are the big changes or requests that

660
00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:26,040
Speaker 2: we have.

661
00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:30,920
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean the biggest issue here is we're not

662
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:35,560
Speaker 4: providing strong enough incentives to get to that acreage cap

663
00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:37,560
Speaker 4: in previous years. You know, we work on getting that

664
00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:40,399
Speaker 4: acreage cap higher right now, we just need to make

665
00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:43,760
Speaker 4: the program attractive enough to get to that current cap.

666
00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:47,320
Speaker 4: So a few things that we would like to see.

667
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:50,560
Speaker 4: First of all, improving those rental rates would be a

668
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:54,640
Speaker 4: huge step towards making this program all that it could be.

669
00:37:55,080 --> 00:37:58,160
Speaker 4: But a couple of just simple things. There's a payment

670
00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:05,680
Speaker 4: limitation uh land can't exceed and that limit was set

671
00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:09,319
Speaker 4: nineteen eighty five, so we'd like to see that raise

672
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:15,080
Speaker 4: to account for inflation. We'd like to restore cost here

673
00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:18,000
Speaker 4: for the management activities we ask people to do on

674
00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:21,200
Speaker 4: their CRP. So if we say, all right, you're signed

675
00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:23,640
Speaker 4: up for a ten year contract, at year five, we

676
00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:27,480
Speaker 4: want you to go in and mowbrush and spray weeds.

677
00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,200
Speaker 4: We think that the landowners should receive some cost here

678
00:38:31,239 --> 00:38:38,239
Speaker 4: so they're not shouldering that entire cost. And we also

679
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:42,719
Speaker 4: think that there's some room to put grading infrastructure in

680
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,319
Speaker 4: place where it makes sense. So where I live in Minnesota,

681
00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:50,080
Speaker 4: for example, a lot of these grasslands evolved with some grazing.

682
00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:54,120
Speaker 4: And if we can put the infrastructure, put the fencing,

683
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:56,879
Speaker 4: put the water facilities in place so that we can

684
00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:01,719
Speaker 4: use livestock as a management tool on that acre, that

685
00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:05,120
Speaker 4: saves us some taxpayer money for other ways of managing,

686
00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:08,560
Speaker 4: and it also provides an incentive to the landowner to

687
00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:13,879
Speaker 4: have that enrollment. And so we've been working and we

688
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:17,720
Speaker 4: were happy to see a marker bill that Wit mentioned

689
00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:21,839
Speaker 4: earlier be introduced, the CRP Improvement app that would do

690
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:26,000
Speaker 4: several of these things. So we're hopeful that that can

691
00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:27,480
Speaker 4: move forward this Congress.

692
00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:31,799
Speaker 2: Okay, so if we can get all those things done,

693
00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:34,160
Speaker 2: if we can get those rates back to a more

694
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:37,759
Speaker 2: reasonable level, do you feel confident that we will not

695
00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:39,320
Speaker 2: be in a position like we were a handful of

696
00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:41,759
Speaker 2: years ago where folks were dropping out of CRPRE and

697
00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:44,840
Speaker 2: we were seeing you know, more and more land converted

698
00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:48,360
Speaker 2: back into egg We're seeing wildlife habitat come off the ground.

699
00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:52,200
Speaker 2: How do you feel about the general future prospects of

700
00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:54,719
Speaker 2: this program and all those acres that we that we

701
00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:55,600
Speaker 2: desperately need.

702
00:39:57,080 --> 00:39:59,560
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think we definitely can get back to

703
00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:02,440
Speaker 4: the point where this is used positively. I think that

704
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:05,920
Speaker 4: TRP has had a bit of a public relations problem

705
00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:09,160
Speaker 4: in the past, and hunters and anglers are some of

706
00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:11,600
Speaker 4: the only folks who have you know, stood up for

707
00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:15,760
Speaker 4: this program, which in terms of environmental benefits is pretty

708
00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:19,440
Speaker 4: much the best thing we can do within farm bill

709
00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:23,880
Speaker 4: conservation programs, maybe next to our easements, but just a

710
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:27,080
Speaker 4: ton of positives. And we just need to keep telling

711
00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:33,399
Speaker 4: that story, and especially hunters and especially taking that next

712
00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:36,600
Speaker 4: step from moving out from our duck hunters and peasant

713
00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:39,040
Speaker 4: hunters and having our deer hunters talk about this, having

714
00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:44,920
Speaker 4: you know, predator hunters talk about this. It's an important program. Yeah.

715
00:40:45,239 --> 00:40:47,200
Speaker 2: So how about we moved to the next one, the

716
00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:53,520
Speaker 2: volunteer public Access and Habitat Incentive program. My super high

717
00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:56,960
Speaker 2: level simpletons description of this term is, this is a

718
00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:01,600
Speaker 2: program that provides funding for state to create public access

719
00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:06,400
Speaker 2: programs where we pay a landowner to open up their

720
00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:08,799
Speaker 2: land to some level of hunting and fishing access. This

721
00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:11,279
Speaker 2: is how we have like walking programs in states like

722
00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:17,239
Speaker 2: North Dakota or Kansas or Montana. I think Minnesota maybe

723
00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:19,520
Speaker 2: has something like that. I know Michigan has something like that.

724
00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:21,359
Speaker 2: There's a lot of states that have these programs, and

725
00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:25,760
Speaker 2: I think this is the primary funding mechanism for those.

726
00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:28,719
Speaker 2: It's one of the biggest challenges for hunters these days

727
00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:34,200
Speaker 2: is finding places to hunt. While there's not necessarily more

728
00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:36,040
Speaker 2: hunters than there used to be, there sure seems like

729
00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:38,959
Speaker 2: there's more active hunters out on these public lands these days.

730
00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:42,799
Speaker 2: So having increased access to private lands seems like a

731
00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:44,959
Speaker 2: heck of a good deal and something we would all

732
00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:49,600
Speaker 2: really benefit from. Is that a correct way to describe

733
00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:52,120
Speaker 2: this program? And what else would you add to that?

734
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:58,719
Speaker 4: Ain? Yeah, So this is basically take the programs that

735
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:07,520
Speaker 4: states and now tribes have already created private lands access programs,

736
00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:11,600
Speaker 4: you know, from Kansas to you mentioned Minnesota's program with

737
00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:13,680
Speaker 4: walk in areas from North Dakota to the private land

738
00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:17,240
Speaker 4: open to sportsmen. So taking these programs that have already

739
00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:20,919
Speaker 4: been designed at the state level, and oftentimes they're implemented

740
00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:25,280
Speaker 4: at even smaller levels of government. So for example, in Minnesota,

741
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:28,520
Speaker 4: it's our soil and Water conservation districts that actually enroll

742
00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:33,879
Speaker 4: land in the walk in Access program. But you're supplementing

743
00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:37,480
Speaker 4: the funds that states have available to do those programs.

744
00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:40,960
Speaker 4: So for example, in Minnesota, I pay my three dollars

745
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:43,680
Speaker 4: walk in Access validation fee every time I buy my

746
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:48,000
Speaker 4: hunting license, and there's other sources of state and local

747
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:51,440
Speaker 4: funding that are used to support that walk in Access

748
00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:55,160
Speaker 4: program whatever it's called in your state. But this is

749
00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:59,759
Speaker 4: a federal program that states apply for these funds and

750
00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:02,399
Speaker 4: they they tell USTA how we're going to use them,

751
00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:06,160
Speaker 4: and USDA awards those out as a grant. And what's

752
00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:10,320
Speaker 4: really cool about this is not only are they locally designed,

753
00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:15,480
Speaker 4: locally led in your state, but they've got a massive

754
00:43:15,520 --> 00:43:18,680
Speaker 4: return on investment. And I don't know if anybody expected

755
00:43:18,719 --> 00:43:21,920
Speaker 4: that when these programs came out. With could probably tell

756
00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:24,319
Speaker 4: me some more of the history here, but we've got

757
00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:27,719
Speaker 4: a recent report that says, basically, if we spend one

758
00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:32,440
Speaker 4: dollar through the VPA hip program in a rural community

759
00:43:32,480 --> 00:43:35,480
Speaker 4: to open up access, we're seeing a return of about

760
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:40,879
Speaker 4: over eight almost nine dollars to that investment. And that's

761
00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:44,680
Speaker 4: because hunters and fishermen and fisher women are coming to town.

762
00:43:45,239 --> 00:43:49,280
Speaker 4: They're eating at restaurants, they're buying gas, they are staying

763
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:52,239
Speaker 4: at hotels, they're seeing the sites while they're in town,

764
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:55,719
Speaker 4: they're shopping in local stores, and so it's been a

765
00:43:55,719 --> 00:44:01,560
Speaker 4: massive boon to rural communities. And this is really in

766
00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:04,719
Speaker 4: terms of farm bill dollars. I didn't mention this at

767
00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:09,600
Speaker 4: the front, but conservation programs themselves are a really small

768
00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:13,600
Speaker 4: chunk of the farm bill. Nutrition programs take up the bulk,

769
00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:17,640
Speaker 4: crop related programs take up the next and conservation is

770
00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:21,520
Speaker 4: just kind of a small sliver of that. A VPA

771
00:44:21,719 --> 00:44:24,800
Speaker 4: hip that this program is a sliver of a sliver

772
00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:26,839
Speaker 4: of a sliver. This is only a fifty million dollar

773
00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:31,319
Speaker 4: program right now. Spread that out among fifty states, put

774
00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:34,920
Speaker 4: it over five years. We could make a lot bigger

775
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:40,279
Speaker 4: impact for hunting access and for early economies if we

776
00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:41,840
Speaker 4: were to support this program better.

777
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:46,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, Aaron touched on this and I'm gonna go back

778
00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:48,120
Speaker 3: a little bit of history. It was really the state

779
00:44:48,120 --> 00:44:52,120
Speaker 3: of Kansas that pioneered this and at that time Steve Williams,

780
00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:54,160
Speaker 3: who then went on to become you know, the US

781
00:44:54,239 --> 00:44:56,480
Speaker 3: Social Widle Life Service director and now runs a wildlife

782
00:44:56,480 --> 00:44:58,799
Speaker 3: management institute. He was ahead of the Fish and Game

783
00:44:58,880 --> 00:45:02,239
Speaker 3: Department out there and they created this program became so

784
00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:05,359
Speaker 3: popular that they had counties in the state giving them

785
00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:08,839
Speaker 3: grants so they could go out and basically expand it.

786
00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:11,760
Speaker 3: And that was really the model for the national program

787
00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:15,640
Speaker 3: which came in two thousand and eight. And it's also

788
00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:18,000
Speaker 3: worth noting that this is something that a farmer can

789
00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:22,319
Speaker 3: layer on other programs, so you may have CRP and

790
00:45:22,360 --> 00:45:25,799
Speaker 3: then you get additional money for this. And part of

791
00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:27,400
Speaker 3: this is too, is not just you know, paying the

792
00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:29,520
Speaker 3: farmer to open up their land up hunt and fish.

793
00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:34,359
Speaker 3: It also waives the state assumes liability if somebody who

794
00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:36,600
Speaker 3: falls in a ditch and breaks their leg and trusts

795
00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:39,920
Speaker 3: to sue. So it removes that whole aspect, which is

796
00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:42,799
Speaker 3: a prohibition from the model landers wanting the public on

797
00:45:42,840 --> 00:45:45,800
Speaker 3: that land. They're afraid of that. So it works on

798
00:45:45,920 --> 00:45:47,960
Speaker 3: multiple levels. We have a there's a marker bill out

799
00:45:47,960 --> 00:45:50,040
Speaker 3: there right now that would expand this program into one

800
00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:53,520
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty million dollars and you know, which would

801
00:45:53,520 --> 00:45:55,800
Speaker 3: obviously triple it. But you know, it just can't be

802
00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:58,880
Speaker 3: understated overstated just how important it is for the hunting

803
00:45:58,880 --> 00:46:01,680
Speaker 3: and fishing public as well as for the landowner who

804
00:46:01,719 --> 00:46:03,680
Speaker 3: wants to you know, get as much benefit as he

805
00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:05,080
Speaker 3: can out of doing the right thing.

806
00:46:05,719 --> 00:46:08,120
Speaker 2: Yeah. So is that the ask for that one hundred

807
00:46:08,160 --> 00:46:10,080
Speaker 2: and fifty million in funding for the program or is

808
00:46:10,080 --> 00:46:13,799
Speaker 2: there something else? Yeah?

809
00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:19,960
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I mean this program works really well. USTA

810
00:46:20,760 --> 00:46:23,000
Speaker 4: might need a little bit more flexibility as to how

811
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:25,200
Speaker 4: they roll it out to states, but for the most part,

812
00:46:25,680 --> 00:46:27,719
Speaker 4: we can just fund this program better and it'll do

813
00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:28,279
Speaker 4: a lot of good.

814
00:46:30,239 --> 00:46:32,160
Speaker 3: The other cool thing about this one is that this

815
00:46:32,239 --> 00:46:34,440
Speaker 3: is you know, block grants the states, and the states

816
00:46:34,640 --> 00:46:38,120
Speaker 3: can do their own programs. And when this program got created,

817
00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:43,640
Speaker 3: you had states like Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut that had very

818
00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:46,200
Speaker 3: little public lan and didn't have any programs like this,

819
00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:48,359
Speaker 3: you know, create the programs. All of a sudden there

820
00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:51,319
Speaker 3: was a source of several funding that then they could

821
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:54,680
Speaker 3: match that would create this program. So basically build it

822
00:46:54,719 --> 00:46:55,319
Speaker 3: and they will come.

823
00:46:56,239 --> 00:46:58,839
Speaker 2: Yeah, this just seems like a no brainer. It's and

824
00:46:58,840 --> 00:47:01,080
Speaker 2: it's for the for the the hunting and fishing community

825
00:47:01,080 --> 00:47:03,320
Speaker 2: in particular. I mean, it's just one of those big

826
00:47:03,480 --> 00:47:06,600
Speaker 2: flashing red lights of a problem for so many people

827
00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:09,279
Speaker 2: trying to find places to go these days. This is

828
00:47:09,880 --> 00:47:12,880
Speaker 2: I don't know if there's any more impactful opportunity to

829
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:17,080
Speaker 2: change that than this. I mean, real meaningful dollars to

830
00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:21,360
Speaker 2: open up access. So if you hate trying to understand

831
00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:23,960
Speaker 2: all the acronyms within the farm bill, if CRP and

832
00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:26,719
Speaker 2: EQUIP and all these different things are too much, just

833
00:47:26,760 --> 00:47:31,800
Speaker 2: remember habitat access equals the farm bill, And that alone

834
00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:35,200
Speaker 2: is a very selfish reason to get behind this kind

835
00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:39,800
Speaker 2: of stuff. But there's plenty more selfish reasons. The next one, Aaron,

836
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:42,440
Speaker 2: is EQUIP. I want to talk about EQUIP a little bit.

837
00:47:43,040 --> 00:47:46,600
Speaker 2: My cliff notes version of what this program does, and

838
00:47:46,800 --> 00:47:49,640
Speaker 2: the acronym is the Environmental Quality Incentive Program, I believe,

839
00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:52,040
Speaker 2: But the cliff notes for what that does is basically

840
00:47:52,120 --> 00:47:57,759
Speaker 2: is a program that provides financial assistance and incentives to

841
00:47:58,200 --> 00:48:02,839
Speaker 2: landowners to do things on their land in an environmentally

842
00:48:03,040 --> 00:48:07,840
Speaker 2: friendly way. For example, you know, using different agricultural practices

843
00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:11,319
Speaker 2: when planting their crops, such as using cover crops or

844
00:48:11,640 --> 00:48:14,200
Speaker 2: maybe no till drilling, or doing different things along those

845
00:48:14,239 --> 00:48:18,720
Speaker 2: lines that basically preserve soil quality, preserve water, et cetera,

846
00:48:18,920 --> 00:48:22,200
Speaker 2: et cetera. All of that is good for fish, it's

847
00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:26,120
Speaker 2: good for wildlife, it's good for wildlife habitat all sorts

848
00:48:26,120 --> 00:48:29,000
Speaker 2: of different things like that that are associated or adjacent

849
00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:32,840
Speaker 2: to these agricultural lands. Is that right, Aaron? What I

850
00:48:32,840 --> 00:48:35,080
Speaker 2: miss on that one? To kind of keep it high level.

851
00:48:36,360 --> 00:48:38,120
Speaker 4: Well, I'm thinking we need to get you in some

852
00:48:38,160 --> 00:48:42,080
Speaker 4: congressional offices because you're doing a great job. Yeah, so

853
00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:46,200
Speaker 4: equip This is one that we do not have to

854
00:48:46,239 --> 00:48:50,120
Speaker 4: sell to the egg community and to legislators who are

855
00:48:50,120 --> 00:48:54,880
Speaker 4: tuned into the egg community. Farmers and ranchers love this programs.

856
00:48:55,080 --> 00:48:59,279
Speaker 4: It's the simplest program. You know. We can walk in

857
00:48:59,320 --> 00:49:01,440
Speaker 4: and we come up with a conservation plan for your

858
00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:04,759
Speaker 4: farm and ranch, and we can start putting practices on

859
00:49:04,800 --> 00:49:08,239
Speaker 4: the ground and help you pay for them. You mentioned

860
00:49:08,400 --> 00:49:11,000
Speaker 4: cover crops is one of them. Reduced tillage is another

861
00:49:11,080 --> 00:49:14,800
Speaker 4: practice that can be used. We can cost share putting

862
00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:18,560
Speaker 4: sense to keep cows out of the creek. There's just

863
00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:21,000
Speaker 4: we can we can cost are putting in conservation cover,

864
00:49:21,080 --> 00:49:25,920
Speaker 4: we can help up on bird habitat, and so it's

865
00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:28,600
Speaker 4: basically a list of list of things that have great

866
00:49:28,680 --> 00:49:33,400
Speaker 4: societal benefits, a list of things that help with long

867
00:49:33,520 --> 00:49:39,319
Speaker 4: term I'm talking generational egg production and some things that

868
00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:41,600
Speaker 4: they might just take you know, it might take a

869
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:43,480
Speaker 4: little cost here, it might take a few years of

870
00:49:43,520 --> 00:49:48,600
Speaker 4: implementation to get them to that profitability standard for the

871
00:49:48,719 --> 00:49:54,719
Speaker 4: individual farmer rancher. So currently within EQUIP there's a requirement

872
00:49:55,120 --> 00:50:00,040
Speaker 4: that ten percent of funding go to wildlife conservation practices,

873
00:50:00,560 --> 00:50:04,400
Speaker 4: and those practices vary a lot from state to state,

874
00:50:04,560 --> 00:50:08,120
Speaker 4: you know, in you know, let's let's say in the

875
00:50:08,160 --> 00:50:12,400
Speaker 4: western Dakotas, you might need a shelter belt somewhere to

876
00:50:12,520 --> 00:50:17,800
Speaker 4: provide some winter cover in long leaf pine forest. That

877
00:50:17,920 --> 00:50:20,640
Speaker 4: might be getting prescribed fire back on the ground, so

878
00:50:20,680 --> 00:50:23,560
Speaker 4: doing some maybe some brush control first and then getting

879
00:50:23,600 --> 00:50:27,879
Speaker 4: prescribed fire back into that forest to benefit quail. But

880
00:50:28,440 --> 00:50:32,440
Speaker 4: so states and state technical committees, which are just groups

881
00:50:32,440 --> 00:50:36,440
Speaker 4: of people within the state who care about agricultural conservation

882
00:50:36,600 --> 00:50:41,560
Speaker 4: and have expertise in it, are to use of EQUIP

883
00:50:41,600 --> 00:50:44,440
Speaker 4: funds for wildlife and we want to make sure that

884
00:50:44,440 --> 00:50:48,280
Speaker 4: that requirement stays in place. There's other requirements that funding

885
00:50:48,360 --> 00:50:51,399
Speaker 4: go to livestock operations and things like that. We want

886
00:50:51,440 --> 00:50:54,319
Speaker 4: to keep that wildlife requirement and we want to make

887
00:50:54,320 --> 00:50:59,240
Speaker 4: sure that that n RCS and the state technical committees

888
00:50:59,239 --> 00:51:02,840
Speaker 4: are putting a lot of into using that ten percent

889
00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:06,000
Speaker 4: wisely and putting it towards things that really are great

890
00:51:06,040 --> 00:51:09,560
Speaker 4: for wildlife, rather than you know, seeing it as sort

891
00:51:09,560 --> 00:51:12,080
Speaker 4: of an afterthought, Oh this maybe this counts, and we'll

892
00:51:12,120 --> 00:51:14,879
Speaker 4: just contact under the bucket. I think most states are

893
00:51:14,880 --> 00:51:17,120
Speaker 4: doing a good job of this. We want to make

894
00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:18,719
Speaker 4: sure that it continues to be that way.

895
00:51:19,840 --> 00:51:22,520
Speaker 3: Okay, and Mark, also, it's worth noting that, you know,

896
00:51:22,920 --> 00:51:25,040
Speaker 3: you've heard a lot about the drought and the prolonged

897
00:51:25,080 --> 00:51:27,440
Speaker 3: drought in the West and what that's doing the Colorado

898
00:51:27,560 --> 00:51:30,560
Speaker 3: River and you know a lot of streams, and this

899
00:51:30,680 --> 00:51:32,800
Speaker 3: is a program you use for that too. For example,

900
00:51:32,920 --> 00:51:35,320
Speaker 3: when I was a trial limited, we were using equip

901
00:51:35,360 --> 00:51:37,680
Speaker 3: grants to go in there and work with individual landowners

902
00:51:38,239 --> 00:51:41,000
Speaker 3: to improve the irrigation efficiency or to go from flood

903
00:51:41,040 --> 00:51:44,520
Speaker 3: irrigation to you know, you know, center pivot or something

904
00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:47,400
Speaker 3: like that would save water. And then you put that

905
00:51:47,560 --> 00:51:51,040
Speaker 3: saved water into a stream for fish. So it has

906
00:51:51,080 --> 00:51:54,120
Speaker 3: a bunch of different applications that you know, if your

907
00:51:54,160 --> 00:51:56,879
Speaker 3: creative out there, the conservation front could very well work

908
00:51:56,920 --> 00:51:57,440
Speaker 3: with equip.

909
00:51:58,640 --> 00:52:14,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that makes a lot of sense. Last headliner

910
00:52:14,680 --> 00:52:18,719
Speaker 2: for me at least would be the conservation easement programs

911
00:52:18,920 --> 00:52:22,759
Speaker 2: that are part of this, and again super high level

912
00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:28,440
Speaker 2: conservation easements are basically a situation where the development rights

913
00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:33,960
Speaker 2: for a property are essentially transferred to the government bought

914
00:52:34,360 --> 00:52:40,880
Speaker 2: for some fair rate, essentially allowing that place to remain

915
00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:44,640
Speaker 2: undeveloped into perpetuity. You know, this is obviously by the

916
00:52:44,719 --> 00:52:47,840
Speaker 2: choice of the landowner. They're voluntarily you know, selling that

917
00:52:47,920 --> 00:52:50,480
Speaker 2: future right and they get a financial benefit for it.

918
00:52:50,520 --> 00:52:53,239
Speaker 2: And the short termament ensures that these places stay undeveloped

919
00:52:53,600 --> 00:52:56,880
Speaker 2: and you know, highly conserved habitat into the future. And

920
00:52:57,200 --> 00:52:58,839
Speaker 2: I don't know all about the details in the Farm

921
00:52:58,840 --> 00:53:01,279
Speaker 2: Bill how that specific places play it out, but there

922
00:53:01,280 --> 00:53:04,200
Speaker 2: are programs like that within the Farm Bill, Aaron, can

923
00:53:04,239 --> 00:53:05,960
Speaker 2: you can you fill in the gaps there?

924
00:53:07,960 --> 00:53:12,040
Speaker 4: Yeah, So these mostly fall under the Agricultural Conservation Easement

925
00:53:12,120 --> 00:53:17,080
Speaker 4: program that's split into the egg Land Easement a l

926
00:53:17,120 --> 00:53:20,799
Speaker 4: E and then the Wetland Reserve easements. So a lot

927
00:53:20,800 --> 00:53:24,000
Speaker 4: of hunters and anglers paid most attention to the w

928
00:53:24,239 --> 00:53:29,359
Speaker 4: R the Wetland Reserve easements, and as you mentioned, landowners

929
00:53:29,680 --> 00:53:34,640
Speaker 4: voluntarily give up some of the some of the right

930
00:53:34,719 --> 00:53:39,160
Speaker 4: to develop on their land in exchange for a market price.

931
00:53:40,120 --> 00:53:44,080
Speaker 4: They retain the right to access, they retain the right

932
00:53:44,120 --> 00:53:46,560
Speaker 4: to restrict access. They can use it for a lot

933
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:49,279
Speaker 4: of different things. It's just we're not going to turn

934
00:53:49,320 --> 00:53:51,439
Speaker 4: it into a housing development. We're not going to drain

935
00:53:51,480 --> 00:53:57,919
Speaker 4: that wetland. So u as you can imagine, some people

936
00:53:58,000 --> 00:54:00,319
Speaker 4: will hear that and they'll say, oh, well, why would

937
00:54:00,320 --> 00:54:03,200
Speaker 4: I want to give that up? Well, you know, for

938
00:54:03,239 --> 00:54:05,120
Speaker 4: a lot of people, that connections to the land is

939
00:54:05,160 --> 00:54:07,560
Speaker 4: so important that they don't want to see that, you know,

940
00:54:07,680 --> 00:54:10,279
Speaker 4: get turned into that strip mall get turned into that

941
00:54:11,160 --> 00:54:14,680
Speaker 4: housing development or whatever it is. And so they're looking

942
00:54:14,760 --> 00:54:18,280
Speaker 4: for a way to protect their protect that land into

943
00:54:18,320 --> 00:54:21,239
Speaker 4: the future. And I think I mentioned this earlier, but

944
00:54:21,360 --> 00:54:24,800
Speaker 4: from Wetland Reserve easements, ninety four percent of the people

945
00:54:24,800 --> 00:54:28,120
Speaker 4: who walked in the door and offered up their land

946
00:54:28,160 --> 00:54:31,560
Speaker 4: for an easement are are turned down because we don't

947
00:54:31,640 --> 00:54:36,000
Speaker 4: have the resources to do it right now. There's a

948
00:54:36,040 --> 00:54:38,319
Speaker 4: pretty big hole that I think a lot of deer

949
00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:40,800
Speaker 4: hunters will be interested in. We don't have a really

950
00:54:40,840 --> 00:54:46,480
Speaker 4: great way to do forest easements. And these would basically

951
00:54:46,800 --> 00:54:52,760
Speaker 4: maintain forested land as forests, and you'd still have you know,

952
00:54:53,000 --> 00:54:58,520
Speaker 4: management taking place, you'd still have conservation appropriate forestry practices,

953
00:54:59,120 --> 00:55:02,160
Speaker 4: you'd still be taken member off of that land, but

954
00:55:02,200 --> 00:55:04,600
Speaker 4: it would be maintained in forest. And so we'd really

955
00:55:04,680 --> 00:55:08,319
Speaker 4: like to see a program created. We tested it out

956
00:55:08,360 --> 00:55:12,080
Speaker 4: through the Healthy Forest Reserve program. We want to see

957
00:55:12,080 --> 00:55:15,840
Speaker 4: that expanded and you know, provide an opportunity for forest

958
00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:18,960
Speaker 4: landowners to participate in an easement program that keeps their

959
00:55:19,200 --> 00:55:20,920
Speaker 4: working for us in a working forest.

960
00:55:22,320 --> 00:55:27,040
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, is there anything else you would add as

961
00:55:27,080 --> 00:55:30,560
Speaker 2: far as highlights that we haven't touched on within the

962
00:55:30,600 --> 00:55:31,640
Speaker 2: twenty three farm bill.

963
00:55:33,440 --> 00:55:34,920
Speaker 3: Well, I was just saying that, you know, if you

964
00:55:35,000 --> 00:55:39,480
Speaker 3: talk about the Eastmorn programs, which are incredibly important, you know,

965
00:55:39,520 --> 00:55:41,920
Speaker 3: there are some you know folks that you're you know,

966
00:55:41,960 --> 00:55:44,719
Speaker 3: like itvs. Govers a very tough state for easements, and

967
00:55:44,840 --> 00:55:47,080
Speaker 3: you know, some others are a lot of sort of

968
00:55:47,120 --> 00:55:51,120
Speaker 3: political blowback about locking up land forever. But I mean,

969
00:55:51,120 --> 00:55:54,080
Speaker 3: this is not exactly a radical concept. I mean, we

970
00:55:54,160 --> 00:55:56,879
Speaker 3: have about sixty million acres in this country. They're under

971
00:55:56,880 --> 00:56:01,200
Speaker 3: conservation usement and again they're totally volid terry. And it's like,

972
00:56:01,719 --> 00:56:03,239
Speaker 3: you know, I want to decide that I want to

973
00:56:03,280 --> 00:56:05,359
Speaker 3: make sure that the land I've grown up and never

974
00:56:05,400 --> 00:56:09,200
Speaker 3: gets turned into condos or an Amazon Facilma station or

975
00:56:09,200 --> 00:56:11,680
Speaker 3: whatever it might be. You know, it seems to me

976
00:56:11,840 --> 00:56:14,399
Speaker 3: and if somebody's willing to pay me for it, that's

977
00:56:14,440 --> 00:56:16,680
Speaker 3: my right as a lando er decide how my land's

978
00:56:16,680 --> 00:56:19,239
Speaker 3: going to be used. And you know, so I just

979
00:56:19,280 --> 00:56:22,080
Speaker 3: think that, you know, we just need to remember the

980
00:56:22,160 --> 00:56:24,480
Speaker 3: dating picture here that you know, this is you know,

981
00:56:24,960 --> 00:56:27,759
Speaker 3: this is supporting private property rights. This is not going

982
00:56:27,800 --> 00:56:30,759
Speaker 3: against property property rights by any means. But I think

983
00:56:30,800 --> 00:56:33,839
Speaker 3: bigger picture, it's worth noting too that the Farm bill

984
00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:37,719
Speaker 3: something has always been bipartisan, and we talked about these,

985
00:56:37,760 --> 00:56:40,440
Speaker 3: you know, marker bills are out there on the Public

986
00:56:40,480 --> 00:56:44,040
Speaker 3: Access Provisions or on the CRP provisions, you know, the

987
00:56:44,080 --> 00:56:46,879
Speaker 3: CRP Improvement Act for example, that's you know, John Foon

988
00:56:47,000 --> 00:56:51,520
Speaker 3: or Republican from South Dakota and Amy Klobachar you who

989
00:56:51,600 --> 00:56:54,480
Speaker 3: is you know, demograph from Minnesota, you know, so this

990
00:56:54,600 --> 00:56:57,239
Speaker 3: is one of those few areas in Congress that still work.

991
00:56:57,440 --> 00:57:00,239
Speaker 3: And it still works, you know in rural America. But

992
00:57:00,320 --> 00:57:02,120
Speaker 3: the reason, part of the reason we can always pass

993
00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:05,440
Speaker 3: a farm bill too is that there's an urban constituency

994
00:57:05,480 --> 00:57:08,799
Speaker 3: for it as well, because, as Aaron mentioned, you know,

995
00:57:08,880 --> 00:57:12,600
Speaker 3: the food security programs, the SNAP programs, the farm you know,

996
00:57:12,640 --> 00:57:15,239
Speaker 3: the food stamps. You know, that's all part of the

997
00:57:15,239 --> 00:57:18,360
Speaker 3: farm bill too. So you have this good for farmers,

998
00:57:18,360 --> 00:57:21,160
Speaker 3: it's good for producers, you know, it's good for feeding

999
00:57:21,200 --> 00:57:23,240
Speaker 3: the world, and it's good for a rural the name

1000
00:57:23,360 --> 00:57:26,080
Speaker 3: for urban America where there's still a lot of people

1001
00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:28,720
Speaker 3: that need this to get by. So you know, that

1002
00:57:28,800 --> 00:57:31,600
Speaker 3: weird dynamic means that we typically can pass a farm

1003
00:57:31,640 --> 00:57:36,880
Speaker 3: bill every five years. And so when you see folks saying, well,

1004
00:57:36,920 --> 00:57:38,680
Speaker 3: we shouldn't be spending as much on you know, the

1005
00:57:38,760 --> 00:57:43,000
Speaker 3: Nutrition Title or food stamps or whatever, they remember, this

1006
00:57:43,120 --> 00:57:46,560
Speaker 3: is a very delicate balance between what rural American needs

1007
00:57:46,600 --> 00:57:50,320
Speaker 3: and what urban American needs, and it works. So you know,

1008
00:57:50,360 --> 00:57:52,600
Speaker 3: those are just my sort of big picture observations.

1009
00:57:53,080 --> 00:57:56,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a that's a good thing to remember. They're

1010
00:57:56,200 --> 00:58:01,120
Speaker 2: about that that balance and you know, I guess leveraging

1011
00:58:01,200 --> 00:58:04,200
Speaker 2: the opportunity we have here with something that is bipartisan,

1012
00:58:04,640 --> 00:58:07,160
Speaker 2: with a lot of different people at the table, we

1013
00:58:07,320 --> 00:58:14,160
Speaker 2: can recognize some pretty significant benefits for fish and wildlife,

1014
00:58:14,320 --> 00:58:15,960
Speaker 2: when otherwise it'd be a lot harder to get this

1015
00:58:16,040 --> 00:58:19,240
Speaker 2: kind of thing pushed through. Probably, So, Aaron, is there

1016
00:58:19,280 --> 00:58:23,480
Speaker 2: anything else super noteworthy when it comes to this round

1017
00:58:23,520 --> 00:58:25,280
Speaker 2: of the farm bill that we haven't touched on that

1018
00:58:25,280 --> 00:58:27,600
Speaker 2: folks really need to know about before we get into

1019
00:58:28,120 --> 00:58:30,000
Speaker 2: action items and what we can do to push this

1020
00:58:30,080 --> 00:58:30,479
Speaker 2: thing through.

1021
00:58:32,560 --> 00:58:36,920
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm ready to jump to action items, but one

1022
00:58:36,920 --> 00:58:40,920
Speaker 4: that I'll bring up so to get somebody enrolled in

1023
00:58:40,960 --> 00:58:44,560
Speaker 4: these programs to actually get the conservation work on the ground,

1024
00:58:45,120 --> 00:58:47,320
Speaker 4: you've got to have people there to do it. And

1025
00:58:47,640 --> 00:58:51,560
Speaker 4: we ask a ton of the staff in our USDA

1026
00:58:51,760 --> 00:58:53,960
Speaker 4: service centers where you would go to enroll in any

1027
00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:57,080
Speaker 4: of these programs minus VPA hip. You do that through

1028
00:58:57,120 --> 00:59:01,600
Speaker 4: your state or local government agency. But we absolutely need

1029
00:59:01,640 --> 00:59:05,040
Speaker 4: to make sure that when a farmer, rancher, landowner walks

1030
00:59:05,040 --> 00:59:08,880
Speaker 4: in the door and sits down next to somebody's desk,

1031
00:59:08,960 --> 00:59:10,479
Speaker 4: First of all, we need to make sure that there's

1032
00:59:10,600 --> 00:59:13,120
Speaker 4: somebody who's hired to sit at that desk so that

1033
00:59:13,160 --> 00:59:16,400
Speaker 4: they can actually answer questions. But we need to make

1034
00:59:16,400 --> 00:59:19,360
Speaker 4: sure there's somebody who they can trust, who can answer

1035
00:59:19,440 --> 00:59:22,400
Speaker 4: their questions, who can go out to their farmer ranch

1036
00:59:22,480 --> 00:59:25,640
Speaker 4: and walk them through all the different options and areas

1037
00:59:25,680 --> 00:59:28,880
Speaker 4: where we can make some improvements and then shepherd them

1038
00:59:28,920 --> 00:59:31,840
Speaker 4: through this. You know, there's a lot of applications, there's

1039
00:59:31,880 --> 00:59:33,840
Speaker 4: a lot of detail. There's a lot of things that

1040
00:59:34,760 --> 00:59:38,080
Speaker 4: the average person isn't going to be able to walk through.

1041
00:59:38,560 --> 00:59:41,120
Speaker 4: We've got to make sure we're well staffed, and sometimes

1042
00:59:41,160 --> 00:59:43,480
Speaker 4: we forget about it. We talked about the programs themselves

1043
00:59:43,480 --> 00:59:46,800
Speaker 4: and how we can make them better. We've got to

1044
00:59:46,800 --> 00:59:48,440
Speaker 4: have the people in place to do it too, and

1045
00:59:48,480 --> 00:59:54,240
Speaker 4: whether they're a USDA employee, that's very important for a

1046
00:59:54,960 --> 01:00:00,200
Speaker 4: NGO non governmental organization partner who is helping to you know,

1047
01:00:00,280 --> 01:00:02,720
Speaker 4: talk land owners through this process and get them enrolled.

1048
01:00:03,240 --> 01:00:05,360
Speaker 4: Either way, we need to make sure that there's you know,

1049
01:00:05,480 --> 01:00:09,280
Speaker 4: qualifying people there who can take the call and work

1050
01:00:09,800 --> 01:00:11,480
Speaker 4: someone through this process.

1051
01:00:11,840 --> 01:00:20,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, can argue with that. We've got these diverse set

1052
01:00:21,040 --> 01:00:25,080
Speaker 2: of asks. I guess right, we're asking for a whole

1053
01:00:25,120 --> 01:00:27,640
Speaker 2: bunch of different things related to CRP, related to access,

1054
01:00:27,720 --> 01:00:31,720
Speaker 2: related to environmental quality, related to easement's related to staffing.

1055
01:00:32,880 --> 01:00:34,880
Speaker 2: There's a lot of different things here and on the

1056
01:00:35,680 --> 01:00:38,320
Speaker 2: priority document. I know you guys have developed those a

1057
01:00:38,360 --> 01:00:40,919
Speaker 2: whole list of other things as well. There's a lot

1058
01:00:40,960 --> 01:00:43,080
Speaker 2: of things that we're hoping that the hunting and fishing

1059
01:00:43,120 --> 01:00:47,480
Speaker 2: community can see come to fruition in this addition to

1060
01:00:47,520 --> 01:00:52,000
Speaker 2: the farm bill, Aaron, But I'm doubtful that I or

1061
01:00:52,040 --> 01:00:57,280
Speaker 2: anyone listening could remember to list all twenty four different

1062
01:00:57,480 --> 01:01:00,600
Speaker 2: priorities in a phone call to someone in angs or

1063
01:01:00,640 --> 01:01:03,600
Speaker 2: in an email or something like that. So I guess

1064
01:01:03,640 --> 01:01:06,800
Speaker 2: what I'm curious about is for the average person listening

1065
01:01:06,840 --> 01:01:11,040
Speaker 2: to this, what should we actually do, what should we

1066
01:01:11,280 --> 01:01:14,840
Speaker 2: actually be asking for? And when's the most important time

1067
01:01:14,880 --> 01:01:15,280
Speaker 2: to do it?

1068
01:01:17,440 --> 01:01:20,040
Speaker 4: Sure, I'll give you a couple options and then pass

1069
01:01:20,080 --> 01:01:25,040
Speaker 4: it over to with First off, visit our website at

1070
01:01:25,040 --> 01:01:29,160
Speaker 4: TRST dot org. Click on our Fine Deal page and

1071
01:01:29,480 --> 01:01:31,800
Speaker 4: we'll take you to an explanation of a lot of

1072
01:01:31,840 --> 01:01:35,640
Speaker 4: programs in layman's terms, and we'll guide you towards an

1073
01:01:35,640 --> 01:01:38,760
Speaker 4: action alert that will put you in touch with your

1074
01:01:39,000 --> 01:01:44,440
Speaker 4: legislators and reach out to them directly. The other thing

1075
01:01:44,480 --> 01:01:47,720
Speaker 4: I'll say is if you get a legislator you know

1076
01:01:47,800 --> 01:01:51,640
Speaker 4: in person, or you get a lawmaker on the phone,

1077
01:01:51,720 --> 01:01:53,400
Speaker 4: or you get one of their staff on the phone,

1078
01:01:53,680 --> 01:01:56,080
Speaker 4: you don't have to know all the details of these programs.

1079
01:01:56,640 --> 01:01:58,640
Speaker 4: What you need to do is tell them that you

1080
01:01:58,760 --> 01:02:01,280
Speaker 4: love to hunt and fish, you want to have great

1081
01:02:01,280 --> 01:02:03,600
Speaker 4: places to be able to do that, and farm build

1082
01:02:03,640 --> 01:02:06,200
Speaker 4: conservation programs are one of the ways we can get there,

1083
01:02:07,160 --> 01:02:09,160
Speaker 4: and that you need them to get it done. So

1084
01:02:09,640 --> 01:02:12,680
Speaker 4: having that personal connection is a lot more important than

1085
01:02:12,720 --> 01:02:14,160
Speaker 4: having all the details straightened out.

1086
01:02:15,240 --> 01:02:18,520
Speaker 2: What about timing? When when do we start getting on

1087
01:02:18,560 --> 01:02:19,640
Speaker 2: the horn about this stuff?

1088
01:02:20,800 --> 01:02:22,960
Speaker 4: We need to get on the horn right now. So

1089
01:02:23,160 --> 01:02:28,480
Speaker 4: farm bills are being written as we speak, both in

1090
01:02:28,600 --> 01:02:33,720
Speaker 4: Senate and House egg committees. Staffers are taking input right now,

1091
01:02:33,840 --> 01:02:37,720
Speaker 4: they're putting it into legislative texts, and they'll be rolling

1092
01:02:37,840 --> 01:02:41,560
Speaker 4: stuff out in the next few months. So early and

1093
01:02:41,640 --> 01:02:43,520
Speaker 4: often is the answer to the when question.

1094
01:02:44,200 --> 01:02:46,520
Speaker 2: Okay, what would you add on all that?

1095
01:02:48,280 --> 01:02:51,440
Speaker 3: Yeah? I think eron covered really well. If you go

1096
01:02:51,520 --> 01:02:53,960
Speaker 3: to tiersp dot org and you sign up, not only

1097
01:02:54,000 --> 01:02:56,919
Speaker 3: will it send something to your legislator, but then you'll

1098
01:02:56,920 --> 01:02:59,840
Speaker 3: also receive regular updates from us about what's going on,

1099
01:03:00,720 --> 01:03:03,960
Speaker 3: and then if there is a something really critical that

1100
01:03:04,000 --> 01:03:07,520
Speaker 3: we need to weigh in on about an individual program

1101
01:03:07,640 --> 01:03:10,320
Speaker 3: or individual member of Congress, we can reach back out

1102
01:03:10,320 --> 01:03:13,439
Speaker 3: to you. Again, I think it is important what Aaron

1103
01:03:13,560 --> 01:03:16,320
Speaker 3: said too, is you don't need to be an expert

1104
01:03:16,520 --> 01:03:20,600
Speaker 3: and don't be intimidated by the process. Just talk about

1105
01:03:20,760 --> 01:03:25,400
Speaker 3: the need for hunting, fishing, good habitat on private lands

1106
01:03:25,720 --> 01:03:28,000
Speaker 3: and the importance of the farm bill and making that happen.

1107
01:03:28,680 --> 01:03:31,440
Speaker 3: And more they hear that, then you know, that's just

1108
01:03:31,680 --> 01:03:34,400
Speaker 3: bucks them up, and you know that's can be way

1109
01:03:34,480 --> 01:03:37,120
Speaker 3: more impactful than a form letter coming out of a website.

1110
01:03:37,160 --> 01:03:39,600
Speaker 3: When you sign up, the formula will go and that's great.

1111
01:03:40,200 --> 01:03:42,320
Speaker 3: But you know, it's a sense that you can attend

1112
01:03:42,320 --> 01:03:45,680
Speaker 3: a field hearing in your neighborhood if you can, you know,

1113
01:03:46,080 --> 01:03:49,000
Speaker 3: write your legislators, you can call in, and can call

1114
01:03:49,080 --> 01:03:50,840
Speaker 3: in the evening. And if we leave a message on

1115
01:03:50,920 --> 01:03:54,600
Speaker 3: the office voicemail, it'll get listened to and it we'll

1116
01:03:54,640 --> 01:03:58,360
Speaker 3: get responded to. So that individual, you know, sort of

1117
01:03:58,520 --> 01:04:01,920
Speaker 3: contact that you would do beyond just something as simple

1118
01:04:01,960 --> 01:04:04,840
Speaker 3: as you know, checking a box on an online form.

1119
01:04:05,240 --> 01:04:06,440
Speaker 3: And that's really important.

1120
01:04:06,480 --> 01:04:06,880
Speaker 2: As well.

1121
01:04:07,320 --> 01:04:09,240
Speaker 3: And I think that you know, tell your neighbors, you know,

1122
01:04:09,280 --> 01:04:13,560
Speaker 3: talk about it. It's your local rotary club or grange meeting,

1123
01:04:13,920 --> 01:04:16,080
Speaker 3: you know, talk about it, your local chapter meeting it

1124
01:04:16,160 --> 01:04:18,760
Speaker 3: says it's Forever Ducks, some limit or tea or whatever

1125
01:04:18,800 --> 01:04:22,160
Speaker 3: the group is. And you know, just get organized and

1126
01:04:22,200 --> 01:04:25,040
Speaker 3: just make your voice. Your voice gets heard. Because the

1127
01:04:25,080 --> 01:04:29,000
Speaker 3: squeakiest wheel in Washington often gets the grease, and this

1128
01:04:29,160 --> 01:04:30,840
Speaker 3: is a squeaky wheel that deserves grease.

1129
01:04:32,080 --> 01:04:34,920
Speaker 2: It seems like it can't be said enough. This is

1130
01:04:34,960 --> 01:04:40,200
Speaker 2: the largest private land conservation bill instead of funding available

1131
01:04:40,200 --> 01:04:42,680
Speaker 2: every single year, right, I mean, this is this is

1132
01:04:42,720 --> 01:04:44,880
Speaker 2: it is the.

1133
01:04:44,920 --> 01:04:48,320
Speaker 3: Largest conservation bill period.

1134
01:04:48,880 --> 01:04:49,080
Speaker 4: Wow.

1135
01:04:49,200 --> 01:04:51,120
Speaker 3: So it is bigger than the funding for all the

1136
01:04:51,960 --> 01:04:54,640
Speaker 3: land management agencies, you know. So I think that you know,

1137
01:04:54,680 --> 01:04:58,080
Speaker 3: it's it is a huge deal. And you know, again

1138
01:04:58,160 --> 01:05:02,320
Speaker 3: it's supporting you know, the farmers and ranchers of America

1139
01:05:02,360 --> 01:05:05,160
Speaker 3: that feed us all. And it's also great for hunting

1140
01:05:05,160 --> 01:05:07,880
Speaker 3: and fishing, great for water quality, great for clientate, you

1141
01:05:07,960 --> 01:05:08,360
Speaker 3: name it.

1142
01:05:09,200 --> 01:05:12,360
Speaker 2: Awesome all right, gentlemen, Well, I will be getting on

1143
01:05:12,360 --> 01:05:14,480
Speaker 2: the horn here myself. I hope that a lot of

1144
01:05:14,480 --> 01:05:17,240
Speaker 2: our listeners will too, and I will be sending folks

1145
01:05:17,320 --> 01:05:20,360
Speaker 2: to TRCP dot org and I actually just checked. If

1146
01:05:20,360 --> 01:05:23,840
Speaker 2: you go to trcp dot org slash farm bill, it

1147
01:05:23,840 --> 01:05:26,280
Speaker 2: takes you directly to your farm bill landing page, which

1148
01:05:26,360 --> 01:05:28,720
Speaker 2: has lots of great resources there for folks too. So

1149
01:05:29,240 --> 01:05:32,400
Speaker 2: great work with all the resources you guys provide. And

1150
01:05:32,920 --> 01:05:35,480
Speaker 2: thank you so much for walking us through all this

1151
01:05:35,680 --> 01:05:36,280
Speaker 2: here today.

1152
01:05:37,800 --> 01:05:40,560
Speaker 3: Hey, Mark, thanks for the invitation and thanks for just

1153
01:05:40,640 --> 01:05:43,400
Speaker 3: keeping this issue front and center and your listeners.

1154
01:05:44,800 --> 01:05:47,760
Speaker 4: I really appreciate it. Mark. This is a fantastic that

1155
01:05:47,800 --> 01:05:49,240
Speaker 4: you're able to spotlight.

1156
01:05:48,800 --> 01:05:51,520
Speaker 2: This for us, my pleasure. Guys, have a great rest

1157
01:05:51,520 --> 01:05:56,080
Speaker 2: of to day, you too, all right, and that is

1158
01:05:56,120 --> 01:05:59,080
Speaker 2: a wrap thanks to Wit and Erin again for all

1159
01:05:59,120 --> 01:06:02,720
Speaker 2: of that that they share. I'm ready to start making

1160
01:06:02,760 --> 01:06:06,800
Speaker 2: some phone calls, sending some emails, doing all that good stuff.

1161
01:06:07,200 --> 01:06:09,400
Speaker 2: We've got a great opportunity ahead of us this year.

1162
01:06:09,640 --> 01:06:12,320
Speaker 2: The twenty twenty three farm bill can be the best ever.

1163
01:06:12,840 --> 01:06:15,520
Speaker 2: And if all of us listening right now, if all

1164
01:06:15,560 --> 01:06:18,160
Speaker 2: of us we got tens of thousands of people listening

1165
01:06:18,160 --> 01:06:21,800
Speaker 2: to this, if we all take some action and talk

1166
01:06:21,840 --> 01:06:25,480
Speaker 2: to our senators, talk to our representatives, this thing can

1167
01:06:25,520 --> 01:06:29,680
Speaker 2: get across the finish line. And do some incredible things deer,

1168
01:06:29,800 --> 01:06:32,360
Speaker 2: for deer hunting, for all sorts of animals, for our

1169
01:06:32,440 --> 01:06:36,360
Speaker 2: hunting access opportunities, and so much more so, I hope

1170
01:06:36,440 --> 01:06:42,240
Speaker 2: you will join me in participating in this opportunity to

1171
01:06:42,280 --> 01:06:48,800
Speaker 2: be active participants in American government. I guess you might

1172
01:06:48,840 --> 01:06:51,960
Speaker 2: be able to say so. With that said, thanks for

1173
01:06:52,000 --> 01:06:55,360
Speaker 2: tuning in. I appreciate you. I'm really proud of this

1174
01:06:55,360 --> 01:06:57,880
Speaker 2: community we have and having you a part of it

1175
01:06:57,920 --> 01:07:02,600
Speaker 2: means a lot to me. So until next time, stay

1176
01:07:02,640 --> 01:07:04,200
Speaker 2: wired to hunt.

1177
01:07:05,520 --> 01:07:11,320
Speaker 4: Mm hmm