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WASHINGTON, D.C., July 13, 2005 – The Endangered Species Act needs to be amended to provide flexibility to farmers, ranchers and the government for entering into voluntary agreements to protect species, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. Voluntary efforts involving farmers should include initiatives to help listed species recover and to help protect species not currently listed, said Alan Foutz, president of the Colorado Farm Bureau, testifying before a Senate subcommittee today. Foutz, representing AFBF and his state Farm Bureau, told the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Water that farmers and ranchers have long supported the use of cooperative conservation as a way to implement the ESA. “Our experience in Colorado has shown that farmers and ranchers want to protect species,” Foutz said. He provided a Colorado example of researchers studying the habitat requirements of the mountain plover on Farm Bureau members’ land. He noted the result has been voluntary improvements in the habitat by landowners that have helped increase bird numbers, without the plover being listed as endangered or threatened. In most situations, Foutz said, the ESA imposes “restrictions that stifle the kind of creative solutions that we employed to assist the mountain plover.” Foutz outlined aspects of cooperative programs that the Farm Bureau contends should be included in an improvement of the ESA. Cooperative programs should: • Be voluntary with the landowner. • Emphasize active management activities, instead of just restrictions on land use. • Not focus on sales of lands or purchases of easements. • Include removal of existing regulatory disincentives, such as land use restrictions. • Recognize plans that are locally developed and contain practical solutions. • Be flexible with landowners and government agencies so they can develop creative solutions. • Avoid the need to designate land as critical habitat because this is unnecessary and counterproductive. • Provide certainty to landowners that once an agreement is in place, no further management obligations or restrictions will be imposed – a “no surprises” policy. The success of saving the mountain plover has resulted in Colorado farmers “enthusiastically participating in local working groups to help conserve the greater sage grouse,” Foutz said. “Cooperative conservation has certainly worked for us in Colorado with the mountain plover, and, we hope, with the greater sage grouse.” Back to News |
