Impact of loosing CRP ground

[Colt]

Any first hand experiences on the loss of acres of CRP, especially in the mid-west?
I am interested in hearing what people are seeing for bird numbers as large parcels of ground come out of the program.
I anticipate significant declines in some areas of Nebraska and the Dakotas as vast acres are pulled out and put back into ag production. Here in southeastern Idaho (Power County) I know of a lot of acres that are coming out of the program this spring and will be tilled and planted with row crops (clean farming). I am waiting to see what the impact to sharp-tails and pheasants will be.

Your observations?

[BlueRiverKennel]

It is my understanding that, SD will have just about as many new enrollments as they are loosing, so I don't think there will be a impact. In MN we never realy had a huge CRP program, yes there is plenty of it. But the acres that are so nice and fertile and flat around here, don't realy go up for CRP, it's too valueble to the farmer. The rolling hill ares get more response to it.We have many swamps, cattail and willow sloughs and timber areas that provide a large amount of cover and public grasslands that will never go away. We are experiancing great #'s of birds here now, but some of the southern parts of MN are getting hit hard by the harsh winter, as far as CRP in MN, I don't see it being a factor in most areas, maybe a few pockets.

[bratt's]

My family owns a section of ground in NW Kansas and next year my dad is going to break out about 350 acres of CRP. The pheasant hunting has been outstanding the last few years with record numbers of birds. I am a little dissappointed about our property, but it will not hurt the overall numbers. There is still plenty of CRP in the area and the "Walk in hunting" program offered in Kansas has been awesome for providing places to hunt for everyone. We will still have some awesome waterways, draws, plum thicket patches, and creek bottom that will offer the birds some habitat on our property. They will have to adjust some to the habit as will I, but I look forward to the challenge. I think that the birds will be fine, as long as the weather cooperates.