In the past month the Conservation Committee has sent letters to Sen. Tom Harkin and Sen. Richard Lugar urging them to include more funding in the 2001 Farm Bill for the Conservation Reserve Program, the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program and the Farmland Protection Program. All three of these programs have been part of the expiring farm bill and are vitally important to wildlife across the vast farming areas of the Midwest and other states. These programs pay farmers to keep parcels in reserve for soil conservation, wetland protection, and wildlife and have been popular and successful. The 2001 Farm Bill proposed cutting funds for all these programs.

We also wrote to Secretary of Agriculture Anne Veneman asking her to reconsider a plan to poison millions of red-winged blackbirds in North and South Dakota to cut crop losses to certain seed crops. The National Audubon Society is not convinced that this ill-conceived plan will even cut the damages substantially while it will devastate hundreds of untargeted birds as well as the blackbirds.

Altacal members are urged to write letters to Anne Veneman, Secretary of Agriculture, Dept. of Agriculture, Washington DC 20250 protesting this plan.

We have also contacted Senators Boxer and Feinstein asking them to support the Reid-Leahy Conservation Assistance and Regional Equity Act in the 2001 Farm Bill.

We continue to contact Boxer, Feinstein, as well as other senators with key votes on NO DRILLING IN THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE. Senator John McCain, AZ, Sen. Ben Nelson, Nebraska, and a number of other senators will be the deciding votes. You may call (202)224-3121, ask for the senators you wish to contact by name, and leave a 10-second message.