Tag Archives: conservation

Conservation groups praise Senate farm bill

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Conservation groups are praising the Farm Bill the U.S. Senate passed Monday for its strong conservation title.

The Senate passed the version 66-27.

The groups were especially pleased with the bill’s inclusion of a national Sodsaver program to reduce grassland loss and a provision that “re-couples” conservation compliance with crop insurance.

Dale Hall, CEO of Ducks Unlimited, called the two measures “tremendous steps forward in slowing the devastating trend of wetland and grassland habitat loss.

“Our nation is currently experiencing a rate of wetland and native prairie loss not seen since the Dust Bowl,” Hall said in a statement. “These proactive programs will benefit humans and wildlife by ensuring clean drinking water, lessening the impact of floods, slowing the rate of habitat destruction and keeping working farms and ranches productive.”

“The national Sodsaver provision in the Senate bill will conserve native prairies, one of the most imperiled ecosystems in North America,” said Bridget Collins, agriculture policy coordinator with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. “The combined pressure of high commodity prices and land values has resulted in these grasslands being converted at an unacceptably high rate. In addition to the conservation values, the national Sodsaver provision provides important protections for both ranchers and taxpayers.”

With the Senate bill out the door, all eyes now turn to the House, which faces a rapidly closing window of time to advance its own Farm Bill. Dave Nomsen, vice president of government affairs for Pheasants Forever, said the 2008 Farm Bill expires Sept. 30 and extending it would “irreversibly change the face of private lands conservation, threatening the existence of conservation programs that landowners have relied on for decades.

“Sportsmen and landowners are joining to urge the House to commit to advancing a forward-thinking Farm Bill as soon as possible,” Nomsen said in a statement.

To read more about the Farm Bill’s conservation components, click here.

Pittman-Robertson Act marks 75 years of conservation success

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This week marks the 75th anniversary of the Pittman-Robertson Act and hunters and recreational shooters across the country can give themselves a pat on the back for their contributions to wildlife and conservation.

It would be safe to say that few programs have played a greater role in improving wildlife habitat. From national wildlife refuges to state wildlife management areas, Pittman-Robertson is an essential source of funding for on-the-ground habitat work.

The act is named after Nevada Sen. Key Pittman and Virginia Rep. Absalom Willis Robertson, who sponsored the legislation that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law on Sept. 2, 1937. Pittman-Robertson imposed an 11 percent tax on guns and ammunition to fund wildlife habitat and related conservation projects.

According to a news release that crossed my desk this week from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the act raises more than $280 million annually for conservation and has generated more than $2 billion since its passage. States receive a portion of the tax based on a formula that includes their size and number of licensed hunters.

“Hunting is conservation. There is no greater proof of that than hunters who successfully lobbied government so many years ago to tax themselves — all for the benefit of wildlife,” David Allen, president and CEO of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, said in a statement. “That continuing and ever-increasing funding remains the lion’s share for today’s conservation efforts, too.”

Land board withdraws sensitive lands from mineral lease auction

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The Board of University and State School Lands passed a resolution this morning in Bismarck to withdraw more than 5,300 acres of environmentally sensitive lands in western North Dakota from mineral development, including parcels near Bullion Butte and the Kendley Plateau.

Bullion Butte

The announcement comes as good news to conservation interests, who had worked to have the lands withdrawn from consideration in an auction of mineral leases set for Tuesday. According to a story by Patrick Springer of Forum Communications, the board earlier had voted to withhold 1,683.6 acres from Tuesday’s auction after requests from the state Game and Fish Department and the North Dakota Chapter of The Wildlife Society.

Today’s action withdraws the full acreage Game and Fish and The Wildlife Society had requested. According to a source attending the meeting, today’s action is temporary, and mineral leases on the acreage could go back up for sale as early as May.

In the Forum Communications story, Gov. Jack Dalrymple said all of the acres included on the Game and Fish Department list should go through a review process. The land board today said it will develop a formal written process for assessing wildlife and other values on state school lands being considered for mineral lease sales.

One conservationist earlier this week might have summed up the feeling best in a letter written to to state officials leading up to today’s meeting:

“At some point all of us realize that everything in life doesn’t revolve around money.  We cannot put a price on our natural environment and its inhabitants.  … We need to preserve all the tracts outlined by NDGF, not just the 1,700 acres.  We need to protect the entire block.  The possible revenue loss from these acres is inconsequential when viewed in the total picture.”