re: Acadiana Sierra Club fighting Black Bear delisting

Man you might want to tighten down on some stuff before you get too far into presenting your arguments.

All but a very small minority of WRP easements are perpetual, with a very few being 30 year.

They weren't paid NOT to farm, they were paid to return their property into bottomland hardwood habitat. You might as well say they were paid not to build condominiums and strip malls, or horse ranches or whatever.

If you want to present a compelling argument, don't be overbroad with your statements.

If that property was enrolled in CRP and the contract has been fulfilled, there is a window in which the property can be cleared and returned to production, at a rather significant cost. Usually somewhere between $1,500 and $2,000/acre.

As for waiting a few more years for a hardwood harvest providing "good money", try something like 20 more years, and probably like 30 more, before there are any hardwood sawlogs. And thats on the best ground that drains. Much of these plantings are in low ground with poor drainage, poor survival and relatively poor growth rates. And THATS if its CRP and not WRP.

As for the peoples dime, the people got everything they paid for.