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crop rotation to both replenish nitrogen in the soil and take advantage of the increased profitability of soybeans.
• Even with reduction in corn planting, it will still be the fifth-largest corn acreage planted since 1944, the USDA said.
• Many corn and soybean growing states have seen a stormy spring and too much rain has left some fields drenched and water pooling. That impact is yet to be seen, but it could cut into the actual number of corn and soybean acres harvested this fall.
• The USDA reports that 76 percent of the corn crop is in good to excellent condition, compared with 63 percent last year.
• Soybean plants also are faring better than average with to 83 percent emerged by June 15, with progress equal to or ahead of the normal pace in 14 of the 18 major growing states, the USDA said.
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Feds consider sending bison to Grand Canyon, Iowa
MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press
• BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Federal wildlife officials on Monday listed 20 parcels of public lands in 10 states that could be suitable for bison from Yellowstone National Park, but said it would be years before any relocations of the animals.
• The sites eyed for potential future herds include areas as diverse as Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park, an Iowa wildlife refuge and a North Dakota national historic site.
• They were identified in a long-awaited Department of Interior report that looked at using Yellowstone's bison herds to further the restoration of a species that once ranged most of the continent.
• Tens of millions of bison occupied North America before overhunting nearly drove them extinct by the late 19th century.
• Yellowstone was one of the last holdouts for the animals in the wild. It had roughly 4,600 bison at last count. During their winter migrations, the animals periodically spill into neighboring Montana, triggering large-scale, government-sponsored bison slaughters to prevent the spread of the animal disease brucellosis.
• Capturing the animals and shipping them to other public lands would ease those population pressures.
• A pilot bison relocation program in Montana has struggled for years against opposition from ranchers. They worry both about the disease and the possibility of bison competing with cattle for grazing space.
• Several dozen Yellowstone bison have been moved onto American Indian reser (Continued on page 18)
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