Tony Dean ...
Outdoors, Inc.
1013 North GrandPierre, SD 57501
(605) 224-5104
FAX (605) 224-2977
Tony Dean Outdoors
Articles
Dems Friendlier to Conservation?
Published in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Nov. 22
Dems Friendlier to Conservation? Some Are, Some Aren’t
By Tony Dean
On a national level, Democrats in the House and Senate are generally believed to be more conservation-friendly than Republicans. In fairness, it wouldn’t be difficult to be more conservation-friendly than the Bush Administration, and while some have high hopes for a new conservation-friendly Farm Bill with Congressman Collin Peterson (D-MN) slated to head the House ag committee, a review of his past raises questions.
Some point to his former chairmanship of the Congressional Sportsman’s Caucus, as a plus. The CSC said to be the largest caucus in Washington, DC, claims to represent the interest of sportsmen. Reality suggests otherwise because it’s more often a place where poor conservation voters from both parties go to get their complimentary issued camo wear, which is then worn on trips back home to say, “See, we are one of you.”
Though his Washington congressional office may boast the only shot shell reloading tool in DC, that should not be construed as evidence of conservation convictions. I’ve hunted ducks with Congressman Peterson, and I’ll vouch for his enthusiasm for waterfowling, yet I wonder how you reconcile a love of hunting ducks with the anti-wetland tirade he launched last fall in Morris, MN while in the company of South Dakota native NRCS Chief Bruce Knight, Minnesota NRCS State Conservationist Bill Hunt and other NRCS staffers.
Peterson fired both barrels at environmentalists, President Bush, and former MN Gov. Arne Carlson for their efforts aimed at passing “no net loss” wetland legislation.
OK, I can understand Peterson, sensing his audience of farmers as pro-drainage, taking political advantage of the moment, but I’m also betting he had no idea his remarks would end up in print, but that is what happens when you are an elected official. People record and remember what you say. But even given the political moment, the Congressman went in over the tops of his waders.
“People got all zealous about wetlands and a lot of the wetlands aren’t worth a damn,” he said.
This from a duck hunt-loving Congressman?
Presumably, he was referring to temporary and seasonal wetlands, which the NRCS tried unsuccessfully to rid South Dakota of a few years back. Peterson’s remarks made clear that while an avid duck hunter, he is typical of those hunters who point to their interest in hunting as proof they are also conservationists. He obviouslydoesn’t understand the seasonal and temporary wetlands he casually dismisses as worthless are, in fact, critical to newly arriving ducks in the spring, especially hens that will soon be nesting. These shallow wetlands warm quickly and provide early migrants with a good supply of invertabrates which allow the hen to arrive healthy on the breeding grounds.
Many of Peterson’s western Minnesota constituents have managed to drain nearly every seasonal and temporary wetland there, creating the reason so many Minnesotans want to hunt ducks in the Dakotas. North and South Dakota remain the only states within the prairie pothole region that still has most of our historic wetlands intact.
Knight, typical of many Bush administration appointees, was chief lobbyist for the National Corn Growers Association, which means he now heads the agency he once tried to manipulate.
As for the NRCS, their record on wetlands has become increasingly clear. A number of years ago, Ladd Erickson, now a North Dakota states attorney, interned with the National Wildlife Federation in Blue Earth County, MN, and found of over 2,000 drainage requests, the NRCS turned down only a mere handful. It is no surprise Blue Earth is the most drained county in the prairie pothole region.
Peterson added he and others in the Congress have tried for nearly a decade to give wetland determination authority to the NRCS, but those efforts have failed. He added the other agencies involved “don’t want to give up their turf.”
Thankfully.
If you can’t depend on the NRCS to protect wetlands, just what do you think they will do on behalf of ducks? Though there are many dedicated conservationists working within the NRCS, the leadership, with the help of Congressmen like Peterson, seems determined to weaken regulations.
The fact is, wetlands in conjunction with the CRP program, have done much to increase pheasant populations, prevent additional flooding, and keep water quality high in our lakes.
I’ve no doubt Peterson is a strong backer of CRP, but if that and other conservation programs included in a new Farm Bill aren’t competitive with crop subsidies, we’re right back where we started before the program began as a part of the 1985 Farm Bill. Thus, his leadership on developing a new Farm Bill that would be friendly to wildlife seems to tilt in the wrong direction. If Peterson at the helm of the Agriculture committee has policies that are similar to those of the Bush Administration, then conservationists are in a real world of hurt.
Dems Friendlier to Conservation?
