Judge halts USDA's cattle-grazing plans on Conservation Reserve Program lands

A federal judge in Seattle has put the brakes on an emergency federal program that would allow grazing and hay production on millions of acres of farmland nationwide that had been set aside for conservation.

The injunction ordered Tuesday by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour could affect 24 million acres of conservation lands across the country, including fragile habitat in this state. And in Washington, it pits two struggling species against each other: independent cattle producers and sage grouse.

Coughenour ordered the temporary restraining order after a suit was filed by the National Wildlife Federation and six affiliates over the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) decision in May to allow grazing and hay production on land now protected under the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

The program, begun in 1985, pays farmers across the country not to plant fragile lands, and to return them to native grasses and vegetation.

The USDA initiative, called the Critical Feed Use program, was meant to help cattlemen suffering from high feed prices. It allows hay production and grazing on CRP land, to boost production of up to 18 million tons of cattle forage worth $1.2 billion, according to the department.

Meat producers are getting clobbered by hay costs that have shot up to as much as $200 a ton, up from $75 to $100 just three years ago. Hay is scarce because farmers are growing corn and wheat instead, to reap high prices.

There was also to be an added advantage for participants in the CRP: They could keep collecting CRP payments while they put their conservation lands into hay or grazing.

The National Wildlife Federation, and six state chapters, including the Washington Wildlife Federation, say in their suit that the government should have performed an environmental assessment before starting the program.

A full hearing is set for July 17 before Coughenour. His restraining order will keep the program on ice until he rules on the case.

"The CRP program was never intended to be a subsidized hay program, yet we see it contorted now in an effort to buy votes in farm communities," said Ben Deeble, sage-steppe project coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation in Missoula, Mont.

The fallow lands under the CRP program have been crucial to wildlife. In Washington, much of the remaining population of sage grouse, now under consideration for listing under the Endangered Species Act, lives on CRP land, said Don Larsen, of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"Anything that affects sage grouse habitat we have a lot of concern about," Larsen said.

Washington is among the top 10 states for CRP participation, with more than 1.5 million acres in conservation, providing habitat for birds, curbing soil erosion and improving water quality. CRP is the country's largest conservation program on private land.

More than $80 million was paid out to Washington farmers last year under the program, in return for keeping land on some 4,000 farms in conservation — 17 percent of all the cropland in the state.

But some Washington cattlemen say they were counting on the new USDA initiative to get their herds through the coming winter.

Sam Ledgerwood, a cattleman in Asotin County, had just come from a meeting with his banker when he got the news.

"He's not one to loan money to buy $200-a-ton hay," Ledgerwood said. "No way is it going to work — it don't pencil."

"I would like to know this judge's background," he said. "Has he ever been off the asphalt? Does he still eat steak when he goes to his table? Or his restaurant? How can a program be thrown out the window by one judge?"

Kent Politsch, chief spokesman for the Farm Service Agency in Washington, D.C., which administers the CRP program, said the agency is in a dilemma.

"There is pressure from all different angles on how do you take care of the food supply and how do you take care of conservation and wildlife," Politsch said. "We are trying to find the right balance."

Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com