American Farm Bureau Federation: Better Endangered Species Incentives Needed

Better Endangered Species Incentives Needed

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 15, 2005 – In order to play the fullest possible role in protecting America’s endangered species, the nation’s farmers and ranchers need more and better voluntary incentives, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Testifying today on behalf of AFBF (American Farm Bureau Federation), Bob Peterson, an Ohio grain and livestock farmer who serves as president of the Ohio Farm Bureau and as a member of the AFBF Board, told a House subcommittee that farmers working cooperatively with government agencies would help make species recovery a positive benefit for all parties.

“Farmers and ranchers enjoy the benefit of having wildlife on their land,” Peterson said. “Most farmers and ranchers are already taking measures on their own to protect listed species and habitat. They need the tools to be able to do it better.”

Peterson explained that several programs are available to help animal species before they are listed as endangered, but once a species is listed, most of those opportunities disappear.

“Farm Bureau has long supported the use of cooperative conservation as a way to implement the Endangered Species Act,” Peterson said. “We are convinced that cooperative conservation is the way to make the Endangered Species Act work for both landowners and for species, producing a win-win situation for both.”

AFBF-supported mandatory elements to be included in any voluntary cooperative conservation program are:

Landowners must be able to use their land, not just be ordered to place it into a set-aside program.
Certainty to landowners that once an agreement is in place, no additional management obligations or restrictions will be imposed.
Landowners must have assurances that actions they agree to take to enhance species habitat will not be subject to prosecution if they result in accidental harm to a listed species.
Lands covered by cooperative conservation agreements should be excluded from critical habitat designation because it duplicates the results of the cooperative agreement.

Peterson said Farm Bureau supports House bill H.R. 3300 because it “provides farmers and ranchers the flexibility they need to meet their land-use goals while at the same time providing effective protection for listed species.”

An incentive-based cooperative conservation program should provide a wide array of mechanisms to compensate farmers and ranchers, Peterson said. Program incentives should provide choices including direct payments, estate tax or property tax or other tax deductions or credits, or simply removing ESA disincentives or restrictions.