CSF, the American Sportfishing Association and Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies have called on the hunting and fishing community to sign a letter to the Senate and House Budget Committees, Senate and House Agriculture Committees and the leadership of both chambers of Congress calling for “serious consideration of providing additional funds above the January Congressional Budget Office baseline so the Agriculture Committee can meet this country’s conservation, forestry, research, and renewable energy priorities and goals.”

This year's budget process is vital to the Agriculture Committee because the FY 2008 budget resolution will set the spending parameters for the next Farm Bill. “We expect a large response from organizations in support of the letter, as everyone who represents sportsmen and women or makes their living from the outdoors should recognize and embrace the Farm Bill as the single most significant program delivering on-the-ground conservation benefits for private landowners and natural resources,” commented Gary Kania, CSF Vice President of Policy.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) is lobbying colleagues to add at least $7.5 billion to the conservation baseline in the next budget resolution. Rep. Peterson has asked the House Budget Committee to restore funding for the Conservation Security Program and Wetlands Reserve Program when the panel writes the budget resolution for 2008. Both programs have been used as offsets for previous disaster payments, which cut the baseline below what was written in the 2002 Farm Bill.

The plea for CSP and WRP is part of a general request from Rep. Peterson and other members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to increase the budget allocation for agriculture. The House budget resolution is expected to come to the floor before the Easter recess, which Rep. Peterson said would allow his committee to start writing the next Farm Bill by late April. He indicated his focus for the time being is making a case to the Budget Committee for more funding.

The Administration's Farm Bill proposal would provide $7.8 billion more for conservation programs over the next 10 years, but the 2008 budget request sidestepped many of the specifics of the Farm Bill proposal. Instead, USDA based its detailed line items on the existing Farm Bill and kept most numbers in line with 2006 spending.

Overall, Rep. Peterson said he expects to see "significant increases" in spending on conservation in the next Farm Bill, though he said they might not all be in the traditional conservation programs. He wants to add a new program in the next Farm Bill to pay farmers to grow feedstocks that could be used for biofuels.