CREP milestone celebrated

Proposed CREP

money yet to

be allocated

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

MANKATO -- There are politicians and then there's outgoing Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura.

Tuesday afternoon, the heat and humidity were oppressive, but Ventura dressed and talked about cool as he could.

Ventura was among politicos and other government officials who attended the site dedication of the 100,000th acre of Conservation Reserve Program on the Hiniker family CREP land just north of Mankato.

Suits, ties, wing tips and penny loafers be damned. Ventura was dressed in a baseball type jersey commemorating the Eagles rock band Hotel California album, blue jeans and leather hiking boots.

His mind was in a rock-and- roll mood too. He talked about how crowded a recent Joe Walsh concert he attended was before leaving the tent shade to take the microphone near the Hiniker Sawmill site.

Ventura chugged what was left of a bottle of water before taking the stage. He ripped on the weather forecasting profession.

"Somebody predicted a drought this summer. They got 8 inches of rain in Wright County last night. I suppose I'll be touring that area next," Ventura said. "It goes to show you can be a weatherman and only be right half of the time."

Seriously, Ventura extolled the virtues of CREP, talking about how the Hiniker crop land was recently flooded out by the Minnesota River 3 of 5 years. It prompted them to set aside 67 acres of land into the CREP program in 1998.

One of the first CREP contracts in Nicollet County, the land was replanted with trees. Between 1998 and 2001, Nicollet County had some of the greatest soil loss, sediment and phosphorus reduction amounts in the state. Renville County was also among the Minnesota leaders with a state-high 227 easements, 8,830.7 acres and $6,713,897.69 in state dollars.

"Congratulations to everyone who participates in this program," Ventura said. "I hope it keeps going. It's a win-win situation. My job is usually easy. I just say 'yes' and try to push it through."

Ventura lauded the efforts of former Minnesota 2nd District Congressman David Minge for his efforts in promoting CREP.

"'Judge' Minge was a strong CREP supporter," Ventura said. "He constantly reminded me of it."

District 23 Sen. Dennis Frederickson, R-New Ulm, a chief author of the CREP Bill, talked about the first CREP acreage set aside four years ago on the Jim Dallenbach property near Lucan.

"There were three generations of Dallenbachs at that event and that many here today too," Frederickson said. "Many people doubted we'd ever reach the 100,000- acre goal. Thanks for the support of the Ventura administration and other conservation groups, we did it."

Minnesota has yet to allocate any state money for proposed CREP programs in the Lower Mississippi River and Red River basins. A $2 million Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) bonding bill was not approved in the 2002 legislative session.

Both proposals are in the review process. They are expected to be submitted to the USDA this fall.

The Minnesota River Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program combines the USDA Conservation Reserve Program with the state's RIM program to retire up to 100,000 acres of environmentally sensitive lands in the Minnesota River Basin by Sept. 30, 2002.

CREP matches 2.3 federal dollars to each state dollar appropriated for RIM Reserve easements in the basin. Minnesota appropriated $81.4 million for the initiative, which leveraged $187 million in federal dollars.

Launched in February 1998, the Minnesota initiative -- second of its type in the country -- is the largest long-term private lands conservation effort to restore habitat and improve water quality in the Minnesota River and its tributaries.