ROGERS — Tuesday marked the first day that farmers and ranchers could enroll land in a program, intended to help protect the Illinois River watershed, that is offering 150 percent of the lease price annually and other incentives for easements along waterways.
The program, which U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced in January, provides funding to purchase 15-year easements on 15,000 acres in the Illinois River watershed in parts of Benton and Washington counties.
The primary goals are to enhance wildlife habitat and improve water quality by filtering agricultural runoff.
Program funding includes $24 million from the federal government and $6 million from state sources. The Arkansas money includes a $1.5 million matching grant from the Walton Family Foundation and Arkansas Poultry Federation. Arkansas cities and counties have provided money to match that grant. The state is also donating in-kind payments worth $3 million.
Gov. Mike Beebe described it as a federal, state and private partnership.
"This program is designed to incentivize as opposed to punish people to do the right thing," Beebe said Tuesday during a meeting of the Illinois River Watershed Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program in Rogers.
Trees, grasses and other plants will be planted along waterways to restore riparian forest buffers, which will help reduce the amount of phosphorus, bacteria and sediment that flows into rivers and possibly drinking water.
For more than 20 years, Arkansas and Oklahoma have feuded over the Illinois River, which is designated a scenic river in Oklahoma. Oklahoma authorities say fast-growing Arkansas cities with sewer plants and the area's poultry companies have put toomuch phosphorus in the Illinois River. Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson filed suit in 2005 against Springdale-based Tyson Foods Inc. and other poultry companies that have operations in Arkansas. The matter is still in court.
Most of the time, these issues can be reconciled so economic and ecological interests are both satisfied, Beebe said.
"When they can't be reconciled, it is my opinion that you have to err on the side of preservation," he told about 100 people at the meeting.
While the economy is important in Northwest Arkansas, Beebe said, area leaders are also "cognizant of the need to protect our resources."
Tony Franco, supervisory program specialist with the federal Farm Services Agency, said the program also provides a $100-per-acre incentive payment to landowners who voluntarily enroll land in the program and implement conservation practices.
The program pays about 90 percent of the cost to implement conservation practices or a wildlife food habitat, which averages about $250 per acre. The landowner receives another $200 per acre after conservation practices or a wildlife habitat is in place. The current lease rate on rural Arkansas land along waterways is about $55 per acre per year, Franco said. The agency's goal is to keep 10,000 tons of sediment a year from reaching streams.
Of the total 15,000 acres, 9,750 are to be used as a riparian buffer and 5,250 for a wildlife habitat buffer.
Cropland and marginal pastureland are eligible for the program. Farmers and ranchers can sign up for the program at local Farm Services Agency offices until the acreage goals are met.
The state of Arkansas entered into the agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corp.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 08/27/2009