Glickman Announces $91 Million Conservation Program in Virginia
                                                                
                                            Release No.  0075.00
                                                                
                                                                
                                      Dann Stuart (202) 690-0474
                                     Dan_Stuart@wdc.fsa.usda.gov

GLICKMAN ANNOUNCES $91 MILLION CONSERVATION PROGRAM IN VIRGINIA

     WASHINGTON, March 8, 2000   Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today
announced that U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Commonwealth of Virginia
will launch a $91 million program to restore up to 35,000 acres of
environmentally sensitive land along the Chesapeake Bay and many of Virginia's
streams and rivers. 

     "The Chesapeake Bay is a unique and valuable natural resource," said
Glickman.  "Thousands of people make their living from it, and many more use
it for recreation.  However, in recent years, the bay's fish and wildlife have
been damaged by contaminants.  This joint effort will mean cleaner water,
improved habitat for threatened and endangered species, and eventually better
yields from the bay's fisheries."

     The Virginia Chesapeake Bay Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program
(CREP) will target 25,000 acres in the bay watershed, and the Virginia
Southern Rivers CREP will improve 10,000 acres in non-bay drainage basins. The
programs were developed to help protect the Chesapeake Bay and other coastal
estuaries from the effects of excessive nutrients and sediments resulting from
agricultural runoff.  

     The total cost of the program is expected to reach $91 million over 15
years.  Of that amount, $68 million will come from the federal government and
$23 million from Virginia.  Virginia will also spend up to $3.75 million to
buy 8,000 acres of voluntary permanent conservation easements   6,000 acres in
the bay project and 2,000 acres in the Southern Rivers project.

     The projects seek to reduce nitrogen contaminants in streams and rivers
by more than 600,000 pounds per year, phosphorus by over 90,000 tons, and
sediment by over 50,000 tons per year.  Other objectives are restoring
wetlands and providing wildlife habitat for species associated with riparian
and wetland areas, especially threatened and endangered species such as the
Peregrine falcon and the Virginia big eared bat, as well as many threatened
and endangered aquatic invertebrates and mollusks.
 
     CREP uses state and federal resources to help solve environmental
problems.  The CREP combines an existing USDA program, the Conservation
Reserve Program, with state programs to provide a framework for partnerships
to meet specific state and national environmental objectives.  The program
provides for voluntary agreements with farmers to convert cropland to native
grasses, trees, and other vegetation, in return for rental payments and other
incentives. 

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