A major media event is scheduled for Monday in Hookstown. Gov. Edward Rendell and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman will be announcing the expansion of CREP to include the Ohio River watershed.

CREP - Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program - is a federal farm program administered by the Farm Service Agency.

Governor Rendell and Secretary Veneman will be making the CREP announcement at the farm of Richard and Kay McElhaney, 149 Pittsburgh Grade Road, Hookstown, around 4:00 p.m. Monday. This program is designed to improve water quality by taking environmentally sensitive cropland out of production by creating riparian buffers and improving wildlife habitat.

Landowners participating in the 10- or 15-year contracts will be paid an annual rental rate that could be as much as $100 an acre. Although CREP is a federal program, state and federal funding are both allocated for CREP. The Ohio River watershed in Pennsylvania encompasses the following counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Clarion, Crawford, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Greene, Lawrence, Mercer, Venango, Warren, Washington and Westmoreland.

Landowners in the three county regions of Butler, Beaver and Allegheny seem to have quite an interest in the CREP, based upon phone calls and inquiries received since CREP started in Eastern Pennsylvania several years ago in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Although program details are not available yet, it seems the idea is that if someone is farming steep cropland or cropland near a stream this land would meet the criteria for CREP. It is expected farmers can enroll portions of a field or the entire field.

Interested persons can expect FSA to hold several informational meetings over the next few months to be announced soon.