(Editor's Note- I wrote this short piece for the Outdoors Writers Association monthly, Outdoors Unlimited. It was a contribution for our Circle of Chiefs Series, and we are considered the conservation arm of the organization. However, a significant number of members think we (OWAA) are turning too green. Can you imagine an outdoor writers association being accused of that? Truth is, few outdoor writers pay much attention to conservation...and that's a shame.)
Camo-Coating Bad Conservation Policy By Tony Dean
We are told the president is a hunter and fisherman, that we can thus trust him and his team to take care of the environment. But in politics, actions measure commitment better than words or suggestions, and to get an accurate measure, you must extend it to include the President’s men…and women.
Immediately following Interior Secretary Gale Norton’s speech at our Columbia, MO conference, I asked her a few questions. After telling her of the loss of native prairie in South Dakota, I asked if she could steer additional money into the US Fish & Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) wetland and grassland easement programs. In the finest tradition of political doublespeak, her answer bore no relationship to the question.
But three days later, a news release from her office (http://www.doi.gov/appraisalreform/release.html) made things clear. She plans to consolidate the real estate appraisal functions of the Interior agencies and under the guise of “reform,” they’ll move to an undisclosed location and existing realty money will be directed to fund the new organization.
I’m reading between the lines but this “reform” looks more to me like delay, and when it comes to enacting wetland and grassland easements with landowners, that’s a deal-killer. And I wish I could get over the nagging feeling that this is what was intended.
A centralized office will mean move decisions away from where deals are done, and that’s chillingly familiar to the way wetland decisions are now made, in far-flung places away from public scrutiny. High-ranking administration officials must believe the public has no business knowing about this because shortly before we went to press, they slapped a gag order on government employees.
In this way, the Bush Administration hinders conservation work, using bureaucracy to shield them from the view of sportsmen who are often confused by candidates who promise to support the second amendment but make no promises on how their policies will affect the environment.
Is there a need for reform? Before you answer, remember that vocal supporters of the President and Republican party are avowed opponents of public lands and the acquisition of more acres.
Let’s consider my backyard, Region 6, which encompasses the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain States. Realty offices here have compiled a remarkable record. Over three years, they’ve completed 2,273 easement appraisals in the Dakotas, an average of nearly 3 per working day. And because up to 65 percent of all ducks that migrate down the flyways each fall are reared in the Dakotas, the habitat their actions save carries international significance. (Harvey Wittmier, Chief, Division of Realty; Denver, CO, 303-236-8130)
Reducing delays is important because easements are time-sensitive, and if short form appraisals aren’t allowed, processing time could take up to a year in each case. And because sellers rightfully have a lot of latitude in modifying the boundaries of what they are willing to sell, responses are currently handled quickly. Region 6 staff is cross-trained in appraisals and realty specialist duties, an approach that’s rare in government.
The threat to wetlands and prairies is significant. Drought has plagued this area for the past three years and many ranchers have sold their herds. Others face gut-wrenching decisions if they want to stay on the land. Since grassland is friendlier to wildlife and water quality than row crop agriculture, the more grass on the landscape, the better.
But when ranchers look at CRP paying about $40 per acre, renting their land to a farmer who will break it for $65 an acre, or breaking it themselves to plant genetically-engineered, herbicide-resistant Round Up Ready soybeans, the decision comes easy. According to at least one university study, planting soybeans can earn them up to $120 per acre.
But most ranchers don’t want to be farmers and realize that when someone plows prairie, the price of grass goes up. Thus, Brady and Wendi Rinehart (605-852-2321) who ranch in Hyde County, SD, faced their own decision. They didn’t want to farm, they love ranching and care about wildife, so they chose instead to sell wetland and grassland easements to the USFWS and the money helped them stay in the cattle business.
The USFWS has been focusing their grassland easements in central South Dakota. In Hyde and Hand Counties as well as portions of 8 other counties, you’ll find the most productive pintail breeding area on Earth, up to 32 breeding pairs per square mile. (Ron Reynolds, Habitat and Population Evaluation Team, USFWS, Bismarck, ND, 701-250-4413). Pintails were the only puddle duck that failed to show population increases during the wet 1990’s. And they, along with other puddle ducks and a variety of songbirds, depend heavily on short grass prairie for nesting. This area has also seen the largest plow-out of any other region on the Great Plains. Over the past 10 years, in spite of the gains of CRP, South Dakota’s loss of native prairie has surpassed it.
Experts say consolidating the Realty office could result in a 50 to 80 percent decline in habitat plus missed opportunities on another 11 million acres of high priority grassland and wetlands, a staggering loss. The consolidation effort could undermine conservation easements.
For ranchers and ducks, shorebirds and songbirds, water quality and the kids of tomorrow, Secretary Norton’s decision is a bad one. But bad decisions dealing with conservation come from this Administration with frightening regularity. But they’ve also shed light on the President and his resource direction. Carrying a rifle does not make one a hunter anymore than carrying a fishing rod makes you an angler, and neither makes you a conservationist. However, donning camo, and saying you’re the friend of sportsmen because you support gun ownership, while using it to hide the dismantling of America’s conservation policies, is patently dishonest.
Editors' note: Every once in a while, you do something that has an impact, even if you don't realize it at the time. Currently, the USFWS is buying conservation easements at a record rate here on the prairies. And phone calls and letters from in-field folks tell me our articles brought this issue to public attention and made a big difference. It didn't make headquarters in Washington DC happy. Director Steve Williams wrote a nasty little piece for the Grand Forks, ND Herald, which without mentioning me, was directed at me. Ah well, I have thick skin.
