My job is to update you on the wildlife impacts of Farm Bill developments from the past few months and give you an idea of what conservation’s future might look like, if the Farm Bill doesn’t pass by September, 21st (Please see my previous blog for a basic explanation of what the Farm Bill is and how it affects wildlife).
Recap: Senate and House Bills
- It maintains an adequate level of funding for conservation programs;
- It contains a national Sodsaver provision to protect native grasslands;
- And it requires that farmers receiving taxpayer-funded crop insurance premium subsidies protect the public good by following a soil conservation plan on highly erodible land and refrain from draining wetlands (known as conservation compliance).
After the Senate bill passed, it was the House’s turn to pass their own version. The House Agriculture Committee moved quickly to pass H.R. 6830, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2012. Although the House version maintained a similar level of funding to conservation in comparison to the Senate bill, it lacked important protection for wildlife. The House bill’s version of Sodsaver only applied to the Prairie Pothole Region, despite efforts by Reps. Timothy Walz (D-Minn.) and Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) to extend Sodsaver nationally and protect native grasslands nationwide. The House version also lacked conservation compliance provisions in exchange for crop insurance premium subsidies. However, if brought to the House floor, members of Congress will have the chance to apply Sodsaver to the entire nation, and apply important soil and water conservation provisions, as Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) did on the Senate floor.
Unfortunately, the Farm Bill is stalled. There are only 3 days left on the Congressional calendar before the 2008 Farm Bill expires on September 30th, 2012, and the House leadership still hasn’t allowed the Farm Bill to go to the floor. Although Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA) filed a discharge petition to force the House to a vote, it is unlikely the petition will get enough signatures before the Farm Bill expires.
What will happen if the 2008 Farm Bill expires?
The longer it takes to pass a farm bill, the worse things will be for conservation. According to the Congressional Research Service, funding for some conservation programs, including the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), and Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) was extended beyond the Farm Bill until September 2014, by the FY2012 Agriculture Appropriations Act (P.L. 112-55); however, that appropriation contains significant cuts to all those programs.
But the Farm Bill expiration isn’t the only thing affecting conservation funding right now. In an effort to keep the government running until March 2013, the House has passed a continuing resolution which would cap some conservation programs and cut others. If the House votes on a Farm Bill in the lame duck session after the November election, there is still another chance to restore vital conservation funding. If Congress waits until next year to vote on the Farm Bill, the process will have to start all over again and conservation will continue to be a target for disproportionate budget cuts.
Will the agricultural world as we know it come to an end?
So, no, the world isn’t going to end if the Farm Bill doesn’t pass by September 30th. That being said, I am hugely disappointed in this turn of events. I would like to believe that our elected officials can work together and get things done. A Farm Bill that pleases everyone may not exist. But I believe that with hard, bipartisan work, Congress can pass a Farm Bill we can stand behind. There is still time left, and a bill is so close. Yet so far.
What can you do to make sure mayhem doesn’t ensue and wildlife is protected?
Follow the link to ask your representative to extend the important wildlife protection provisions from the Senate version to the House version of the Bill, whenever it comes to the floor.
UPDATE: September 20th: House Speaker John Boehner announced that the Farm Bill will not go to the House floor until after November elections.
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Now is a perilous time for the Endangered Species Act. Many members of Congress seem to have forgotten why this law was enacted in 1973 and why it remains the nation’s most important wildlife protection law. Proposals to remove the safety net of protection for endangered species are flying around fast and furious.
Species Not Recovered in 15 Years? No More Protection Then
Last week Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA) introduced a bill (H.R. 1042) that would lift Endangered Species Act protections from virtually any endangered or threatened species that does not experience significant population increases within its first 15 years after listing.
Baca is upset that the Delhi Sands flower-loving fly, an endangered pollinator in his district, has not yet been declared recovered after 19 years on the Endangered Species Act list.
Rather than encouraging the constructive efforts underway in his district to strike a balance between developing real estate and protecting natural systems and the web of life, Baca would tip the balance entirely in favor of unfettered development.
Why the Delhi Sands Flower-Loving Fly Matters
I see several big problems with his thinking. First, although pollinators are not always charismatic, they are essential to our health and well-being. According to a recent Senate resolution put forward by Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), pollinators help to produce roughly one-third of the food consumed in the United States and help to reproduce at least 80 percent of flowering plants.
If we decide we cannot afford to protect the Delhi Sands flower-loving fly when it starts plummeting to extinction, what makes us believe that we will have the will to protect the numerous other endangered pollinators that help maintain our food supply and our flowering gardens?
Recovery Takes Time. Ask the Bald Eagle and Kirtland’s Warbler
Second, the idea of throwing in the towel for any species that doesn’t show immediate signs of recovery after listing flies in the face of common sense and experience.
Many treasured wildlife species have benefitted from Endangered Species Act protections, but only after one or two decades of getting protection and recovery efforts kick-started.
For example, the bald eagle, our nation’s symbol, did not see a resurgence in its numbers until at least 15 years after it received the protection of the Endangered Species Act. In Maine, for example, the number of eagles hovered around 30 to 50 for roughly two decades after listing, and then recovery efforts started bearing fruit and we now have more than 385 eagles gracing the skies there.
The number of Kirtland’s warbler males hovered around 200 for the first two decades after it was listed, then conservation efforts under the ESA finally paid off and now there are more than 1,700 across the bird’s range.
The Real Way to Deal With Concerns Of How Long It Takes to De-List Species
If members of Congress are truly concerned about the pace of endangered species recovery, there are plenty of ways to address this problem without resorting to the draconian step of pulling the plug and letting developers drive them to extinction. Many species are listed only after their numbers have plummeted to dangerously low levels. This delay in providing ESA protection makes recovery much more costly and difficult. Congress could immediately reduce the cost and difficulty of recovery by helping conserve wildlife while populations are relatively abundant.
Unfortunately, the House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would do just the opposite – it would drastically cut many of the programs designed to conserve wildlife species before they become endangered. This is a classic case of “penny wise and pound foolish” behavior – achieving small savings in the short term while setting us up for big costs over the long haul.