USDA urges farmers to keep conserving land

WASHINGTON (AP) — Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer is winning praise from environmental groups for deciding not to allow farmers and ranchers to withdraw their land from a popular conservation program penalty-free.

Some farmers and ranchers had hoped to withdraw their land from the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays producers to set their land aside, after severe floods hit the Midwest last month. But Schafer said Tuesday that the damage to corn and soybean crops was less than originally feared.

Schafer says those who do withdraw from the program will still have to pay a penalty.

The Environmental Working Group and the Izaak Walton League of America immediately praised Schafer’s decision, as did Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat.

Bill expands care for Agent Orange victims

WASHINGTON (AP) — Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg is pushing the federal government to expand health care to Vietnam war veterans affected by the chemical defoliant Agent Orange.

The Department of Veterans Affairs requires that Vietnam veterans prove that they were on land to qualify for Agent Orange-related illnesses. The coverage doesn’t extend to those who were exposed to the toxin while they were on waterways or serving on offshore vessels.

Rehberg — who has introduced a separate bill to provide health care for soldiers exposed to other chemical agents — says that policy is misguided.

Agent Orange, used in the Vietnam war to strip trees of their leaves, contains a highly toxic chemical compound that causes serious illnesses and deformities and lingers in soil.

Plum Creek inks deal to open land

Plum Creek Timber says it is enrolling 500,000 acres of its land in a Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks program that allows public access.

The company says the one-year Block Management program covers land throughout west-central Montana.

Under such deal, FWP agrees to enforce hunting, camping and other recreation on the land. In exchange, the landowner agrees to allow public access.

FWP says it will update maps of the land and enforce Plum Creek land rules. Wardens will also help patrol the property to guard against violations of hunting regulations.

The company says that nearly all of Plum Creek’s 1.2 million acres in the state now are under the Block Management program.

Separately, Plum Creek has recently agreed to transfer more than 300,000 acres of land to public ownership.

New bill would improve Crow water systems

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government would pay more than $527 million to improve water systems in the Crow Nation under legislation introduced by Montana Sen. Jon Tester.

The bill would finalize a water rights agreement between the Crow Nation, the state of Montana and the federal government. The agreement must be approved by Congress to take effect.

It would reserve 300,000 acre-feet of water from Bighorn Lake for the tribe, require that the Bureau of Reclamation improve the tribe’s irrigation systems and require the bureau to design and build new infrastructure for the system.

It would also entitle the Crow tribe to 500,000 acre-feet of the Bighorn River per year.