USDA begins conservation program in Cameron County

SAN BENITO - Private landowners throughout the Rio Grande Valley are getting a chance to restore more than a dozen different species of wildlife on the state's conservation list, including the endangered ocelot.

After decades of conservation projects, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency wants to enroll 5,000 acres for the Conservation Reserve Program to re-establish Tamaulipan thornscrub habitat for the ocelot and other wildlife.

Micky D. Woodard, chief of the conservation division at the FSA, said landowners and producers can designate portions of their property to try to re-establish the ocelot's habitat. Landowners involved in the effort will enter into 15-year contracts with FSA.

Woodard met Wednesday with a number of FSA officials from Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy and Kenedy counties to discuss the CRP's Lower Rio Grande Valley Thornscrub Restoration Project State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE).

"This is a voluntary program designed to enhance a national restoration program," Woodard said.

Nearly 90 percent of the original thornscrub habitat in the Valley has been lost by conversion to agricultural production and, later, urban areas.

About 650,000 targeted acres are within the SAFE area, including eastern Cameron County, eastern and northern Willacy County, east-central Hidalgo County and southern Kenedy County.

"Other wildlife can also increase," Woodard said. "It's a long-term goal."

Landowners who want to participate can benefit from incentives, cost-share and maintenance payments for establishing and maintaining habitat, officials said.

"The payment is a sort of enticement," Woodard said. "This is compensation to them."

Cris Perez, the Cameron County FSA executive director, said the money paid to landowners is based on the agricultural value of the land. In Cameron County, that base rental rate for the land is $40 an acre, he said.

"This isn't a way to make a lot of money, but they do get compensated," Perez said.

Already, people are interested in trying to restore ocelot habitat.

Woodard said the program is devoted to row crop agriculture, with scattered citrus groves with high rates of wind erosion also included.

There's no maximum limit a landowner is able to use in the program.

"We want to work with him and whatever he's willing to do," Woodard said.

It can take up to 25 years to determine if the restored habitats have any effect, Woodard said.

The FSA will stop its involvement and payments on the rental of the 5,000 acres after 15 years, Woodard said.

Perez said the San Benito area FSA plans to hold an informational meeting for landowners in May.

For more information on the conservation project, contact the Cameron County Farm Service Agency Service Center at 956-399-1311.