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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 2000)
Cash incentives for salmon habitat can help fish and landowners In recent years, the public has developed a heightened interest in the health of Ameri ca’s rivers, streams and wet lands. The wish to have clean water suitable for humans, fish and wildlife is shared by every one. A large portion of Columbia County, however, is privately owned. Most landowners find it difficult to justify spending mon ey on stream improvements that have public value, but little private benefits. The state of Oregon has tried to address this dilemma by partnering with the US De partment of Agriculture through a voluntary program called the Conservation Reserve En hancement Program (CREP). This program, offered to private landowners, provides annual payments and cash incentives to those interested in planting buffers of trees and shrubs and, if needed, installing fence to limit livestock access on po tential salmon streams. (Anoth er program with similar bene fits, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) may apply on non-salmon streams.) Land is eligible for CREP if it borders streams in cropped or grazed fields. Buffer widths usually range from 35 to 180 feet, depending on the topog raphy and the owner’s prefer ence. Landowners must plant buffers and fence any livestock out of the streamside zone dur ing the first year. CREP will pay 75 percent of the cost of instal lation, as well as assisting with water developments for stock, if necessary. Property owners agree to maintain the practices for 10 to 15 year periods so that the plantings have suffi cient time to establish. Since the American public supports clean water initiatives, the federal government and state of Oregon have made CREP worthwhile financially. For landowners willing to install stream buffers, a variety of payments are extended. Landowners receive rental payments based on the leasing value of the land. In Columbia County, for example, marginal pastureland is currently set at a rate of $66/acre along a peren nial stream. Landowners who put 10 acres of pasture, or a 150-foot-wide buffer along 2900 feet of stream, into CREP receive $660/year in rent. (Cropland rates vary based upon the soil types of the of fered acres.) CREP pays an extra 50% annual rental payments to landowners who install tree and shrubv buffers next to salmon streams. Referring to the above example, the incen tive would be $330 (50% of the $660) to total $990 in annual rent. Property owners also re ceive up to $10/acre for main taining plantings, fencing and water developments installed through the program. Using the abbve 10 acres example, this total would add an additional $100/year. Landowners will also re ceive a one time payment for signing a CREP contract. This is calculated by taking $10 per acre times the contract length. On 10 acres with a 15 year contract, $1,500. the incentive is Also available is a one time payment incentive providing an additional 40 percent cost- share payable after the prac tices are installed. For exam ple, if it costs $5,000 to install fencing and tree plantings, when complete, the enrollee receives $2,000 beyond the normal cost-share of 75 per cent. In some rare cases, the en rollee may also be eligible for a cumulative bonus impact in centive. This incentive is de signed to encourage owners, and possibly adjoining land- owners, to enter larger stretch es of streams into CREP. Larg er stretches have a greater im pact than small lengths of stream. If landowners apply buf fers on a least 50 percent of a five-mile stretch of river, they qualify for this incentive. This is calculated by multiplying the rental payment by four, then by the acreage. In this example: $66 x 4 x 10 acres = $2,640. The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program can provide the best of both worlds. While giving private landown ers some economic incentive for installing costly stream buffers, it, in turn, provides the public with environmental val ues needed to improve the health of Oregon’s streams and rivers. For more information about CREP or other conservation programs, contact the Colum bia Soil and Water Conserva tion District and the Natural Re sources Conservation Service in St. Helens at 503-397-4555. Don't let careless type setting ruin your hard work. 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