Here’s some good news for pheasant and quail hunters: U.S. Ag secretary Tom Vilsack announced over the weekend that a new CRP signup will open up later this year, and there also will be more acreage allotted for specific habitats. He made the announcements at Pheasants Forever’s National Pheasant Fest in Des Moines, Iowa.

CRP, of course, is the practice of paying farmers and landowners for keeping their land in a natural state to provide wildlife habitat. There are 4.4 million acres of CRP land expiring this year, which means it could revert to crop production. In the next three years another 14.2 million acres of CRP are scheduled to expire. The new signup will hopefuly offset those losses.

Vilsack has said he aims to keep CRP levels at or near the 32 million acres it’s authorized for. He also announced acreages changes for the following conservation practices:

– 100,000 additional acres for upland bird habitat buffers in the south and midwest.

– 50,000 additional acres for duck nesting habitat, monstly in the Dakotas.

– An additional 150,000 acres in the State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement Program, which is designed to protect environmentally sensitive land that provides habitat for pheasants, quail, grouse and a plethora of non-game species.

Vilsack also signed a memorandum of understanding with Pheasants Forever that will help PF work with states to teach landowners how to improve conservation.