New program could boost pheasant totals

A new upland conservation program could put an additional 100,000 rooster pheasants per year into Iowa fields.

'The program has been designed specifically for landowners who want to return pheasants to their property,” said Chris Hiher, one of eight Pheasants Forever farm bill biologists who are helping Iowa landowners with enrollment and questions.

Iowa's pheasant population has steadily declined during the past 20 years primarily because of inhospitable weather and the loss of good habitat, as fields of grass, hay and small grains have been converted to corn and soybeans.

Beginning immediately, landowners can enroll in the Iowa Pheasant Recovery - State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) program.

Fifty thousand acres have been allocated for enrollment in Iowa on a first-come, first-served basis as part of the federal Continuous Conservation Reserve Program.

Landowners in 77 of Iowa's 99 counties are eligible to participate, with the exceptions generally being in areas less suitable for pheasant production along the Mississippi River and in southern Iowa.

Hiher said the SAFE program is more complex than a regular CRP enrollment because it requires a minimum of 20 acres, of which 25 percent must be planted to winter cover such as switch grass or shelter belts and another 10 percent to grain-type food plots.

Though winter cover and food plots - key components of sustainable pheasant populations - have long been recommended as part of CRP plantings, this is the first federal conservation program that requires them, Hiher said.

Plots as large as 160 acres are eligible for enrollment, according to Hiher.

Pheasant nesting success increases with the size of the bloc of habitat, he said.

Nest raiding predators such as raccoons, skunks and foxes have more difficulty finding nests in large blocs of cover, Hiher said.

Once the acres are fully enrolled and established, they could produce more than 100,000 additional roosters annually for hunters, Hiher said.

Perhaps the most important benefits, for all Iowans, are the water quality improvements and soil erosion reductions that are associated with grassland conservation, he said.

So far Iowans have enrolled about 4,100 acres in the program, leaving more than 45,000 available to landowners.

Rental rates vary from $178 to $320 per acre depending upon the soil type and its ability to grow corn, Hiher said. Enrollment incentives include a signup bonus payment of $100 per acre and payment of 90 percent of the cost of establishing the grassland.

l Comments: (319) 934-3172; orlan.love@sourcemedia.net