Farm Bill, A Wildlife Disaster

President George Bush and the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) have rarely agreed on anything in the outdoors, but they have reached the same conclusion on the farm bill that could be up for final passage in the U.S. House today.

NWF President Larry Schweiger calls it "a recipe for disaster for wildlife," while Bush objects to the amount of money wealthy farmers will be eligible to receive and has threatened a veto.

A veto won't upset Schweiger. Nor should it upset hunters and anglers.

Schweiger said, "Our congressional leaders have put forth a bill that jeopardizes wildlife, slashes investments to key conservation programs and fans the flames of global warming."

The bill calls for drastic cuts in funding for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Wetland Reserve Programs, and encourages a permanent disaster fund for farmers that could lead to the destruction of native grasslands. Combined with last year's ethanol mandate that would more than double corn ethanol production, this bill establishes unprecedented opportunity for habitat destruction in the United States.

Schweiger calls the farm bill "a perfect storm for the destruction of habitat and the aggravation of global warming. "We have no choice but to call on Congress to reject this farm bill and demand changes that keep it from becoming a conservation nightmare."

The combination of a new permanent disaster program in the final bill and a greatly weakened "Sodsaver" provision are especially problematic for waterfowl, pheasants and other game birds that rely on healthy grassland and wetland habitat. The provisions in the bill also undermine efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It represents a significant change from both the House and Senate versions of the bill passed last year, which included a stronger Sodsaver provision to deny eligibility for crop insurance and disaster bailouts to newly broken native grasslands.

"Congress is essentially giving farmers an iron-clad guarantee that no matter how dry or marginal the land they break to farm, they will be bailed out if they plant crops that fail," added Schweiger. "At a time the Senate is considering legislation to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions; it's foolish to promote such nearsighted practices at taxpayer expense."

The General Accounting Office cited the availability of crop insurances and disaster payments as a key factor in decisions by farmers to bust up and plant native grassland areas even before the new permanent disaster program was available. Every acre of native grassland put into cropping releases between 45 and 53 tons of carbon dioxide.

Native grasslands are one of the most endangered ecosystems in the United States since less than 1 percent of our pre-settlement prairies remain, and grassland birds are the fastest declining species group. Once broken for agriculture, these systems can never be fully restored, and the financial incentives in the bill to plow native prairie will destroy habitat for species under consideration for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

This farm bill also includes a 7 million acre cut for the CRP program cap from 39.2 million acres to 32 million acres. And that means 3 million more acres have to be taken out of the program before any additional marginal land can be enrolled. Already, more than 2.6 million acres have come out of the program in recent years - paralleling the escalation of commodity prices - and USDA-offered rental rates were kept low to convince farmers to re-enroll when their contracts expired. In addition, the Wetland Reserve Program will be cut by 25 percent.

"There are some positive aspects to the program," said Schweiger. "But America can't afford a farm bill that increases global warming pollution, decimates wildlife habitat and undermines decades of conservation progress."

What it means to South Dakota is that after this fall, pheasant hunting probably won't bring in the $219 million it did last fall. Grouse and waterfowl populations are also likely to fall, and there could be fewer meadowlarks announcing the arrival of spring on the prairies in future years.

For all of this, you can thank the United States Congress.

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