Comment on FR Doc # 2013-02358

No federal, state, or private conservation program in history has provided more to the betterment of the soil, air and water quality, and wildlife of North Dakota than the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). 1. If possible, ask hunters if the amount of CRP lands in the area they hunt most has, increased, decreased or stayed the same over the past 5 years; 2. If possible, ask hunters if an increase or decrease in CRP acres in the area they hunt the most has led to increased or decreased hunting activity in the past 5 years; 3. We do have concerns with hunter’s ability to determine CRP from other lands. Many hunters may not be able to distinguish between CRP or other grasslands, furthermore, many hunters may also assume that any land enrolled in the Department’s Private Land Open To Sportsmen (PLOTS) program is CRP, when in fact, not all of the land in PLOTS is CRP. 4. We urge FSA to expedite this assessment so methodology can be finalized and mail surveys can be ready for the 2013 hunting season as 1.5 million acres has already expired from the program since its peak in 2007 at 3.3 million acres. Another 255,079 acres are set to expire September 30, 2013 during the peak of fall hunting activity. Many of these CRP lands may be hunted in the early portions of fall hunting season, only to become hayed, burned or tilled in preparation of 2014 spring crop planting season. We urge FSA to take this into consideration when determining when to send out mail surveys (i.e. if the surveys are sent early this will not be picked up in the data collection, however, if they are sent out later it is possible this information will be picked up in the data collection). 5. We urge FSA to commit to a multi-year assessment of CRP lands rather than focusing solely on one hunting season. A multi-year assessment will help FSA determine trends in hunter use and expenditures as it relates to shrinking CRP acres.