Iowa has about 45,000 acres enrolled in general Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts expiring this fall and all of it is eligible to reenroll as part of the recently opened 56^th general CRP signup. The sign up is open through Feb. 12.

The rules and eligibility requirements for this general signup are similar to the last one, where the cutoff was around 210 points. Landowners with expiring CRP, croplands having an erodibility index greater than eight, or located national and state priority conservation areas are eligible to apply. Those in the state conservation priority area will receive extra points as part of their offer.

A link to a map highlighting those areas is under the General CRP Information list online at https://www.iowadnr.gov/Conservation/Wildlife-Landowner-Assistance/Conservation-Reserve-Program.

“Landowners interested in finding out what their rental rate would be should go to their local FSA office or contact one of our private lands staff,” said Todd Bogenschutz, upland wildlife biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. A map and contact information for private lands staff is available on the same webpage.

 “Habitat is key for so many things, from supporting wildlife to improving water quality, and the CRP plays a huge role in the amount of habitat we have on the ground,” Bogenschutz said.