The potential to lose half in 2007 and another 800,000 acres the following year is a tremendous impact to natural resource opportunities in the state.

The potential that exists, quite frankly, for CRP to go away is there in 2007. In the wildlife world, we recognize it as the best conservation program there's ever been.

If the best players aren't going to be playing, obviously that has the potential to become a problem.

He just has so much potential. He's so strong he can score inside against bigger guys, but he's also probably our second-best shooter. And now that we're seeing bigger teams that's important because if he can hit a couple outside shots he'll pull those guys away from the basket.

There's an entire generation of hunters in North Dakota that are just accustomed to CRP being there. We're talking 21 years, and that's what they know on the landscape. I remember what the landscape looked like in the '70s, and believe me, I prefer the conservation activities on cropland remain, and also, CRP is an integral part of what is out there now.

What I'm trying to do is light a spark under folks to take it into their own hands a bit and make those personal stories known. That relates very well at the congressional level.