DELAWARE Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment September 2006 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency in partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control ABSTRACT Proposed Action: The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Commodity Credit Corporation (USDA/CCC), and the State of Delaware have agreed to implement the Delaware Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), a component of the national Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). CREP is a voluntary program for agricultural landowners. CREP is authorized by the provisions of the Food Security Act of 1985, as amended (1985 Act) (16 U.S.C. 3830 et seq.), and its regulations at 7 CFR Part 1410. In accordance with the 1985 Act, USDA/CCC is seeking authorization to enroll lands into the Delaware CREP through December 31, 2007. Type of Document: Programmatic Environmental Assessment Lead Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency For Further Information: Cheryl Z. Butler, Program Manager Conservation and Environmental Programs Division U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency 1400 Independence Ave. S.W., Mail Stop 0513 Washington, DC 20250 202-720-6304 Email: [email protected] http://www.fsa.usda.gov/dafp/cepd/crep.htm ***************************************************************************** The Delaware Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Programmatic Environmental Assessment has been prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321-4347); the Council on Environmental Quality regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508); USDA-Farm Service Agency draft environmental regulations (7 CFR Part 799.4, Subpart G); and USDA-Farm Service Agency 1-EQ, Revision 1, Environmental Quality Programs, dated November 19, 2004. ************************************************************************ Cover Photos Credits: top left, bald eagle, courtesy of National Wildlife Federation website http://www.nwf.org; top right, northern bobwhite quail, Assateague Naturalist http://www.assateague.com/bobwhite.html; lower right, Nanticoke River, courtesy of Tom Darby, http://www.nanticokeriver.net/; and lower left, warm season grass filter strip, USDA-NRCS. Draft PEA for Delaware CREP 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Commodity Credit Corporation, Farm Service Agency, and the State of Delaware propose to improve the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and Inland Bays basin watersheds by continuing a joint Federal-State agricultural land conservation program aimed at retiring marginal cropland and pastureland from further production. This program, known as the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), would use the authorities of the Federal Conservation Reserve Program in combination with State resources to target specific lands to meet conservation and environmental objectives. In response to this proposed Federal action, the Farm Service Agency is preparing a programmatic environmental assessment, in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), to evaluate alternatives to this action and the potential benefits and environmental consequences of these alternatives. In compliance with 40 CFR §1501.7 of the Council on Environmental Quality’s regulations implementing NEPA, FSA initiated scoping by notifying Federal, State, and local agencies, and other interested parties about its intent to prepare a programmatic environmental assessment (PEA) on the Delaware CREP. In addition to the scoping letters, FSA also publicly announced its intent to prepare a PEA in the Delaware State News on January 29, 2006, and the Delmarva Farmer on January 31, 2006. Comments were accepted on the proposed action until February 9, 2006. In response to these announcements, six comments were received. A summary of the comments and responses is presented in Chapter 2. The proposed Delaware CREP would consist of a special continuous sign-up CRP component and a State incentive program, and would target up to 10,000 acres in the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and Inland Bays basin areas for enrollment into the program. The purpose of the Delaware CREP is to improve water quality and enhance wildlife habitat in the coastal plain of the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and Inland Bays basin watersheds. To accomplish this purpose, CREP implements conservation measures designed to minimize drainage and reduce the sedimentation and nutrient runoff from agricultural lands into sensitive waterbodies. The need for this program is to improve water quality and thereby further the goal of restoring designated uses of Delaware’s waterbodies and enhance wildlife habitat for the State’s declining species. This programmatic environmental assessment evaluates two alternatives to the proposed action: Alternative 1-No Action (Existing Program) and Alternative 2-Expanded and Enhanced Delaware CREP Agreement (Agency’s Preferred Alternative). Alternative 1 considers the No Action option, which evaluates the effects of maintaining the existing program and its components. Alternative 1 would continue until December 31, 2007, would allow up to 6,000 acres to be enrolled into the Delaware CREP, and would continue to offer the same conservation practices: • CP3A-Hardwood Tree Planting • CP4D-Permanent Wildlife Habitat • CP21-Filter Strips • CP22-Riparian Buffers • CP23-Wetland Restoration Alternative2-Expanded and Enhanced Delaware CREP Agreement, expands the area for enrollment into the program from 6,000 acres to 10,000 acres. It consists of a special continuous sign-up CRP component and a State incentive program. The area includes acreage in the Chesapeake, Delaware and Inland Bays basin adjoining drainage ditches, streams, and other waterbodies identified as Category I and II impaired segments in Delaware’s Unified Watershed Draft PEA for Delaware CREP 3 Assessment and Watershed Restoration Priorities List (Oct. 1, 1998). In addition to the CRP practices identified for Alternative 1, Alternative 2 proposes to add the following CRP practices: • CP9-Shallow Water Areas for Wildlife, and • CP23A-Wetland Restoration, Non-Floodplain. Alternative 2 also proposes to amend CP4D by increasing the acreage allowed from 5 acres to 10 acres per tract or 10 percent of a tract, whichever is greater and to allow the county committee to approve larger enrollments on a case-by-case basis. Alternative 2 is the FSA’s preferred alternative and the environmentally preferred alternative. The Delaware CREP was established in 1999 with a designated goal of improving water quality and enhancing wildlife habitat in the coastal plain geographic areas of the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and Inland Bays basin watersheds. Delaware CREP is a voluntary, incentive- based Federal program that pays farmers and landowners’ payments and incentives in exchange for installing certain conservation practices on environmentally sensitive land. These conservation practices are designed to improve water quality, enhance wildlife habitat, and conserve soil. Delaware CREP allow farm owners and operators to enroll lower productive acreage into the program under 10- to 15-year contracts. Landowners can choose to plant trees, native warm- season grasses, or cool season grasses in sensitive areas where crops were once cultivated. In return, landowners would receive cost-share, annual rental payments, and generous incentive payments from the Federal and State governments. CCC and the State of Delaware signed the initial Delaware CREP Agreement on June 2, 1999. An addendum to this agreement followed a year later and was signed in July 2000. In September 2000, the Delaware CREP Agreement was revised and signed in December 2002 by CCC and DNREC. Amendment 1 to this agreement is currently being proposed to add two CRP practices as eligible, allow larger enrollments per tract for one practice, expand the areas eligible, and increase the overall acreage goal from 6,000 acres to 10,000 acres. Cooperating and participating agencies supporting Delaware CREP include: • the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Division of Soil & Water Conservation; • the Delaware Department of Agriculture, Forest Service; • the three conservation districts from Kent, New Castle, and Sussex Counties; and • USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service The goals established by the Delaware CREP are to-- • reduce nutrient and sediment loadings to impaired streams; • meet temperature and dissolved oxygen criteria necessary to support biology and wildlife; and • increase upland wildlife habitat and create wildlife corridors. Table ES-1 compares the components of the two alternatives under consideration. Draft PEA for Delaware CREP 4 Table ES-1: Comparison of Delaware CREP Alternatives, 2006 Program Alternative 1-No Action (Existing Alternative 2-Expanded and Component Conditions) Enhanced Delaware CREP Agreement (Agency’s Preferred Alternative) Program Expiration December 31, 2007 December 31, 2007 Contract Term 10-15 years; maintenance and 10-15 years; maintenance and management activity plans, as applicable management activity plans Total CREP Allows up to 6,000 acres; currently Allows up to 10,000 acres, which Acreage 5,151.2 acres are under contract, would provide for an additional allowing an additional 848.8 acres for 4,848.8 acres for CREP enrollment CREP enrollment Targeted Lands for Delaware Bay, Chesapeake Bay and Includes Category II impaired