Property Rights & Environmental Management Committee

Addresses by federal agency chieftains highlighted the committee meeting, including remarks by Steve Williams, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and Bruce Knight, head of USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS).

Williams stressed that primary FWS concerns are habitat conservation and preservation of endangered species, but acknowledged that preservation of farms and ranches must also be a priority. FWS cannot succeed, he said, without the help of landowners that provide habitat and participate in habitat conservation plans and safe harbor agreements.

"It’s no secret that some FWS personnel do not understand the realities of rural life. We’re addressing that," said Williams, alluding to landowner complaints that their good stewardship has too often been unrecognized.

"On my watch, good deeds do not get punished," he added. "I think there is more to unite us than to divide us. We are making progress."

Williams promised to push for financial incentives for landowners participating in conservation, protection and enhancement programs, and to seek local and state input to their development.

With ranching interests in South Dakota, Bruce Knight said he understands the land-rooted ethic of beef producers and their advocacy of sound conservation measures. He said the Farm Bill marks a change in attitude and a commitment to conservation, with $17.1 billion pledge (over 10 years) to private lands conservation programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) and the Grasslands Reserve Program.

Knight said he too favors local input to program implementation and will defer as much as possible to state NRCS personnel and state technical committees.

The meeting discussions of the Endangered Species Act (ESA)yielded policy proposals calling for consideration of rural economic impacts prior to listing of species as endangered, as well as compliance with the Data Quality Act requiring "good science" to back actions to protect species. Landowners were encouraged to participate in the current comment period to suggest possible revisions to rules for implementing the ESA.

— by Troy Smith