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Pawlenty, Gutknecht reach CREP compromise Tuesday, March 30, 2004
ST. PAUL (AP) -- Gov. Tim Pawlenty and agricultural groups have reached a compromise on how to move ahead with a wetlands restoration project -- a plan that would add acres to the project, but allow fewer to be idled permanently.
"This is a good result for the state of Minnesota," Pawlenty said Monday.
Pawlenty last year outlined a $236 million plan that would have paid farmers to set aside up to 100,000 acres in watersheds in southeast, southwest, and northwest Minnesota.
The program is designed to improve water quality by curbing runoff while restoring wildlife habitat. The federal government would pay 80 percent of the project's total cost.
Farmers, however, were concerned that landowners would have had only two choices under the voluntary program: a 50-year easement or a permanent easement.
A coalition of agricultural organizations had encouraged the governor to avoid supporting permanent conservation easements because it would strip choice from future generations.
The state's revised plan includes four points:
--The number of acres set aside would increase from 100,000 to 120,000.
--24,000 acres for permanent easements for wetlands restoration.
--5,000 acres for permanent easements for flood mitigation.
--The remaining 91,000 acres would be set aside for up to 45 years.
Al Christopherson of the Minnesota Farm Bureau said the agreement would give farmers "another tool in the toolbox."
Unless consensus was reached about how long the flood-prone farmland would be retired from production and restored to wetland, the plan was not expected to receive federal approval.
John Monson, Minnesota director of the U.S. Farm Services Agency, said the application to the U.S. Department of Agriculture would be amended soon and the program could be up and running within a few months.
Rep. Gil Gutknecht had been among the strongest opponents to permanent easements, arguing among other things that they may be unconstitutional because of a provision in the constitution relating to liens on agricultural land.
Although he still thinks the permanent easements eventually may be challenged in court, he called the compromise "reasonable."
"The key was we needed to get something done this year," he said.
This is the second phase of the program. The first phase helped clean up farm runoff pollution in the Minnesota River Valley.
Judy Erickson of the Parks and Trails Council of Minnesota said her group would have preferred more acres eligible for permanent easements, but said the agreement was better than nothing.
"Now, we have something we can start working on," she said.
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Ashley Grant may be reached at agrant(at)ap.org
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