WASHINGTON D.C.. - 7/1/01 -- A coalition of more than 100 environmental and hunting organizations, from the Sierra Club to the National Rifle Association, is trying to turn the measure that will set farm policy for the coming years into the major conservation act of this Congress.

The conservationists are focusing on what is typically known as the farm bill as their best bet for recovering millions of acres of wetlands, prairies, grassland and forests, and protecting the wildlife that lives on the land.

Few other bills offer both the money -- $79 billion in new financing over the next five years -- and the assurance that the legislation will become law. The bill pays for the subsidies that have for decades underwritten farmers who grow major crops like corn, wheat, rice and soybeans.

But in the last 15 years, since conservation programs were added to the farm program, farmers have lined up for cash payments in return for taking their land out of production and letting it return to the wild.

Already, farmers have voluntarily set aside more than 35 million acres as nature reserves and another million acres of wetlands as part of the two major conservation programs supported by the farm program. There is a backlog of farmers and ranchers who have applied for $3.7 billion in payments for setting aside an additional 68 million acres, but the programs have run out of money.

Conservation and hunting groups support payments to farmers for returning some of their acreage to a natural state because it not only helps sustain wildlife but also helps farmers hold onto their property. In addition, it slows the encroachment of suburbs into the countryside.

"The conservation programs in the farm bill have really helped the farmer hold the line against developers," said Susan Lamson of the National Rifle Association.

The environmental and hunting groups are asking that a new farm bill include money for the protection of another million acres of wetlands and 10 million more acres of land through the Conservation Reserve Program.

They are going up against the powerful farm and agribusiness lobbies that have helped persuade Congress to keep increasing crop subsidies, which last year reached a record $22 billion in commodity payments to farmers.

Environmental groups argue that these subsidies encourage overproduction of the major crops, which not only keeps prices flat but also pollutes rivers and soil with chemicals.

"When farms go into overproduction, you have dirty water and dirty air," said Brett Hulsey of the Sierra Club. "With conservation programs, you have clean water, reduced flooding and more open space."

In Congress, these environmentalists, as well as the hunting and fishing groups, have found natural allies among senators and representatives from states where farmers receive little of the $20 billion in annual subsidies for the major crops. More than 120 House members wrote to the Agriculture Committee chairman this week asking for support for the conservation programs.