I work at a Soil and Water Conservation District in Oregon, and work on CREP for 2 counties.

The integration of CREP acreage into CRP acreage has significantly affected my workflow and made it much more difficult to enroll new CREP contracts. My understanding of these changes comes almost entirely from conversations with local FSA staff, as there has been very little direct communication with those of us implementing CREP. Without clear, timely guidance explaining program changes, it is difficult to understand new requirements and effectively plan our work.

In 2025, when CREP acreage was managed separately, enrollments typically occurred in September. Based on that schedule, I began preparing contracts with interested landowners well in advance. When the enrollment process changed, I was unexpectedly given only two weeks in March to submit enrollment paperwork. Although I initially had seven interested landowners, the compressed timeline created significant logistical challenges, and I was ultimately able to enroll only one contract.

This year, the enrollment period occurred while I was on maternity leave. Although I had arranged for my regular responsibilities to be covered, no one had been prepared to manage new CREP enrollments because the timing was unexpected. As a result, those covering my position had to respond with little notice, and once again only one new contract was successfully enrolled.

Following that enrollment period, I was informed that there might be an additional batching period later in the year. Based on that information, I spent several months working with landowners to prepare two additional contracts for submission. Then, in August, I was notified that there would not be another batching period because there was no longer enough time to process additional applications. The considerable time invested by both staff and landowners in preparing these applications ultimately could not be used. I am concerned about how it will impact the public’s perception of the program.

Frequent changes to enrollment timelines, combined with inconsistent communication, and limited acreage have made it extremely difficult to effectively administer the CREP program.