Contact: Kirby
Brown, Texas Wildlife Association, (210) 826-2904 Mary Anne
Piacentini, Katy Prairie Conservancy, (713) 523-6135 Terry
Austin, Audubon Texas, (512) 306-0225 Suzy Friedman,
Environmental Defense, (202) 387-3500 x3376 (12 March
2002) Eighteen Texas organizations today urged two key Texas
lawmakers to include $4.4 billion in annual funding for U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) conservation programs in the Farm
Bill, including $246 million in annual funding to help farmers and
ranchers create habitat for wildlife.
The groups sent their request in a letter to Reps. Larry Combest
(R-TX) and Charles Stenholm (D-TX), the highest ranking members of
the House Agriculture Committee, who are now negotiating with their
Senate counterparts on a new, 5-year Farm Bill.
While the House Farm Bill includes only $3.3 billion in annual
average funding for USDA conservation programs, the Senate bill
includes $4.4 billion in annual average funding for programs that
reward farmers and ranchers who restore wildlife habitat or improve
water quality.
Today, most farmers and ranchers are rejected when they seek USDA
funds to help the environment. Farmers and ranchers in Texas
currently face a $178.5 million backlog.
"Farmers and ranchers in Texas are facing the nation's biggest
backlog when they seek USDA conservation assistance to help
wildlife, water and the environment," said Kirby Brown of the Texas
Wildlife Association. "Representatives Combest and Stenholm will be
in a position to make sure USDA rewards, rather than turns away,
these stewards when they offer to help meet our conservation and
environmental challenges."
"The conservation funding recommended in the Farm Bill truly
represents our State's best bet for recovering millions of acres of
grasslands, prairies, wetlands, and hardwood bottomlands that
provide critical habitat for birds and wildlife," said Terry Austin
of Audubon Texas. "The Farm Bill, and the special partnerships and
alliances it fosters, have the potential to be the 'great
conservation initiative' of the 21st Century."
Ninety-seven percent of Texas is privately owned, so conservation
incentives are the foundation of a healthy environment. A 2000
report by Governor Bush's Task Force on Conservation, Taking Care
of Texas, called for more incentives for private lands
conservation.
The letter was signed by American Farmland Trust - Texas Region,
Audubon Texas, Bayou Preservation Association, Bull Creek
Foundation, Central Texas Environmental Network, Christian Life
Commission Baptist General Convention of Texas, Environmental
Defense - Texas Office, Friends of Clear Creek, Katy Prairie
Conservancy, Legacy Land Trust, Llano Estacado Audubon Society, Rio
Grande/Rio Bravo Basin Coalition, San Marcos River Foundation, Save
Barton Creek Association, Texas Center for Policy Studies, Texas
Rivers Protection Association, Texas Wildlife Association, and
Valley Land Fund.
- Attached letter -
American Farmland Trust, Texas Region * Audubon
Texas * Bayou Preservation Association * Bull Creek Foundation *
Central Texas Environmental Network * Christian Life Commission,
Baptist General Convention of Texas * Environmental Defense, Texas
Office * Friends of Clear Cr eek * Katy Prairie Conservancy * Legacy
Land Trust * Llano Estacado Audubon Society * Rio Grande/Rio Bravo
Basin Coalition * San Marcos River Foundation * Save Barton Creek
Association * Texas Center for Policy Studies * Texas Rivers
Protection Association * Texas Wildlife Association * Valley Land
Fund
March 12, 2002
Dear Chairman Combest and Ranking Member Stenholm,
This joint letter by members of the Texas agricultural,
conservation, and environmental communities urges you, as leaders of
the House Agriculture Committee and members of the Farm Bill
Conference Committee, to take a vigorous role in ensuring that the
final 2002 Farm Bill maintains the higher conservation funding
levels of S. 1731, the Agriculture, Conservation, and Rural
Enhancement Act of 2001.
USDA conservation programs are of great importance to the
farmers, ranchers, forest landowners, natural resources, and
communities of Texas. In FY'01 alone, Texas had an unmet need for
more than $178.5 million in USDA conservation funding. In order to
address these mounting challenges, the 2002 Farm Bill must provide
$4.4 billion annual funding for conservation, including a number of
programs of particular importance to Texas:
In FY'01 alone, Texas had a backlog of $1.1 million in unmet
requests from farmers and ranchers to restore and protect wildlife
habitat in our state, as well as $1.8 million in unmet requests from
landowners to restore and enhance wetlands. An average of $246
million a year for the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program and
sufficient funding to enroll 250,000 acres a year in the Wetlands
Reserve Program will provide much-needed resources for our
farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners to restore and enhance
wildlife habitat for our state's at-risk and game species. It is
also important to Texas that the WHIP program 1) provide incentives
for farmers ranchers to participate as well as share in the costs of
wildlife enhancements, and allow farmers and ranchers who are unable
to participate under the current program to enroll lands that would
provide especially important habitat for wildlife and 2) designate a
small percentage of WHIP funds for producers offering to improve
habitat for endangered, threatened and sensitive species.
In FY'01 alone, Texas had a backlog of more than $175 million in
unmet requests from farmers and ranchers interested in reducing
runoff and protecting water quality. An average of $1.24 billion
a year for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and
maintaining the reasonable feedlot restrictions included in the
Senate version of the bill would help our farmers and ranchers
protect and improve the quality of our state's rivers, streams,
lakes, and drinking water sources.
As recommended by the Departments of Agriculture of the NFACT
Coalition, composed of the Departments of Agriculture of New Mexico,
Florida, Arizona, California, and Texas, the Conservation Reserve
Program needs to be expanded to help Texas and other states protect
environmentally sensitive lands and reduce soil erosion. To meet
this need, the 2002 Farm bill should provide authority to enroll
40.5 million acres into the Conservation Reserve Program;
As the nation's leader in the number of cattle and calves, sheep,
lambs, goats, and horses, and in beef production, Texas relies upon
healthy grasslands and farmlands. The establishment of a two
million-acre Grasslands Reserve Program to protect and restore
native prairies and grasslands is vital to our state. This program
should be structured in accordance with the Senate bill so that it
is devoted entirely to long-term, 30-year and permanent easements
and does not have an artificial dollar cap. The final bill should
also include $350 million a year on average for the Farmland
Protection Program.
In addition, the final bill should include language authorizing
state and local governments to establish partnerships with USDA to
coordinate all federal conservation programs with state and local
efforts to preserve and enhance wildlife.
Texas has great need for increased funding for USDA conservation
programs. We urge you to take the necessary steps to ensure that the
final 2002 Farm Bill provides $4.4 billion a year on average for
conservation programs and includes the above-mentioned provisions.
Sincerely,
Julie Shackelford American Farmland Trust, Texas
Region
Terry Austin Audubon Texas
Mary Ellen Whitworth Bayou Preservation Association
Skip Cameron Bull Creek Foundation
George Coffer Central Texas Environmental Network
Rev. Terri Morgan Christian Life Commission, Baptist General
Convention of Texas
Melinda Taylor Environmental Defense, Texas Office
Mona Shoup Friends of Clear Creek
Mary Anne Piacentini Katy Prairie Conservancy
Jennifer Lorenz Legacy Land Trust
Jill Haukos Llano Estacado Audubon Society
Bess Metcalf Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Basin Coalition
Diane Wassenich San Marcos River Foundation
John Beall Save Barton Creek Association
Mary Kelly Texas Center for Policy Studies
Tom Goynes Texas Rivers Protection Association
Kirby Brown Texas Wildlife Association
Mike Hannisian Valley Land Fund
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