Hurricane relief could mean cuts in wetland funds
Wetlands: Don't cut ag, senators say
PETER HARRIMAN
pharrima@argusleader.com
Published: 09/26/05
In the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, George Vandel is enough of an optimist to see a moment for teaching.
"When you read the reports and hear the talk of rebuilding efforts, they frequently discuss the role of wetlands," he said.
"Sometimes the silver lining in a disaster like this is a recognition of how vitally important natural systems are - how they can be used by planners to buffer the impacts of these disasters."
But the assistant director of technical services for South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks also is fearful the silver lining itself is lined with irony. As Congress combs federal programs for money to rebuild the Gulf Coast and to restore coastal wetlands that can break up the force of hurricanes before they strike cities, the financial underpinning of South Dakota's own wetlands protection effort might be at risk, he said.
Since the first Conservation Reserve Program was written into a federal farm bill in 1984, the program has been widely used in South Dakota to pay farmers to keep marginal cropland out of production and in natural vegetation.
The link between CRP and the state's fabulous pheasant hunting in recent years is well understood. But Vandel said landowners also use CRP payments to justify protecting acres around prairie wetlands, the nation's prime waterfowl producing region.
A Congress hard-pressed to find money for the Gulf Coast will determine the future of the CRP program in the 2007 farm bill.
"Half our CRP acreage is up for renewal in 2007, and I don't have a clue yet what they are going to do, what they are going to offer our South Dakota producers," Vandel said of Congress. "We could stand to lose 700,000 acres - a large amount of it associated with wetlands."
Ken Cook, president of the national Environmental Working Group (EWG), is mindful of Vandel's concern.
"I think he's right to be concerned. We are, too," Cook said, pointing out that even before the hurricane, Congress was seeking to trim $3 billion in proposed agricultural spending in a budget reconciliation bill.
"That's when people start looking at conservation and rural development and all the other things that aren't as dear to the heart of ag committee members as subsidies."
The EWG produces a comprehensive data base each year that shows how much money every farmer receiving federal crop subsidies gets.
The EWG argues that subsidies should be capped and more of the farm bill money directed to programs such as CRP.
South Dakota's senators pledge to defend agricultural spending.
"With rising fuel costs, drought and potential problems getting this year's harvest to market, it would be inappropriate to cut funding for agricultural programs," said Sen. John Thune.
Sen. Tim Johnson points out Congress already has committed $62 billion to hurricane relief and restoration, and preliminary estimates suggest the total cost might be $200 billion.
"Breathtaking," Johnson calls it, especially when "you keep in mind the total budget for the state of South Dakota, both federal and state money, is $3 billion."
Johnson also notes President Bush not only doesn't want to raise taxes to provide hurricane recovery revenue, he wants to make permanent $70 billion in tax cuts.
"All domestic discretionary programs are in some jeopardy, potentially," Johnson said.
However, "CRP and Wetlands Reserve are two areas that should not be subject to cuts," he said. "You want to go where the big bucks are, and the Wetlands Reserve and CRP are not it."
The total CRP budget, Johnson said, is less than $2 billion, and the Wetlands Reserve budget only $274 million.
The Wetlands Reserve program first became part of the farm bill in 1990. It pays landowners to protect 1.47 million acres of privately owned wetlands, nearly half of them in the lower Mississippi Valley states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois.
The natural defenders of wetlands are waterfowl hunters, since wetlands provide breeding and wintering grounds for ducks and geese. But with floods on the nation's mind because of the kaleidoscope of misery televised nonstop from New Orleans, Vandel said a larger public might be receptive to lessons about the tremendous ability of wetlands to draw pollutants from water and to store potential floodwater.
"It's all connected," he said. "The isolated, temporary seasonal wetlands in the Dakotas hold and purify water that goes down the Missouri system into the Mississippi.
"When you enhance the functional value of wetlands in South Dakota, it's positive for Louisiana."
Cook calls the aftermath of the hurricane "a moment when the public understands you can't fool Mother Nature. You can't even head fake Mother Nature."
On a strictly hunting note, Vandel says there is probably sufficient wintering habitat undisturbed by the hurricane for migratory waterfowl in the East and Midwest that use the region.
For waterfowl populations, "the bottleneck still remains in the breeding grounds," Vandel said. "What happens in South Dakota has much greater impact than what happens in an isolated area in Louisiana.
"That's my gut feeling on this."
But what happens in South Dakota might depend on how Congress treats conservation spending as it searches for money to rebuild Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf Coast.
"For all the incredible human and environmental damage done by the hurricane, to also break the levee around conservation spending too, that would be very shortsighted," Cook said. "But I'm afraid that we're all going to be filling sand bags before long to protect conservation spending."
Wetlands: Don't cut ag, senators say
PETER HARRIMAN
pharrima@argusleader.com
Published: 09/26/05
In the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, George Vandel is enough of an optimist to see a moment for teaching.
"When you read the reports and hear the talk of rebuilding efforts, they frequently discuss the role of wetlands," he said.
"Sometimes the silver lining in a disaster like this is a recognition of how vitally important natural systems are - how they can be used by planners to buffer the impacts of these disasters."
But the assistant director of technical services for South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks also is fearful the silver lining itself is lined with irony. As Congress combs federal programs for money to rebuild the Gulf Coast and to restore coastal wetlands that can break up the force of hurricanes before they strike cities, the financial underpinning of South Dakota's own wetlands protection effort might be at risk, he said.
Since the first Conservation Reserve Program was written into a federal farm bill in 1984, the program has been widely used in South Dakota to pay farmers to keep marginal cropland out of production and in natural vegetation.
The link between CRP and the state's fabulous pheasant hunting in recent years is well understood. But Vandel said landowners also use CRP payments to justify protecting acres around prairie wetlands, the nation's prime waterfowl producing region.
A Congress hard-pressed to find money for the Gulf Coast will determine the future of the CRP program in the 2007 farm bill.
"Half our CRP acreage is up for renewal in 2007, and I don't have a clue yet what they are going to do, what they are going to offer our South Dakota producers," Vandel said of Congress. "We could stand to lose 700,000 acres - a large amount of it associated with wetlands."
Ken Cook, president of the national Environmental Working Group (EWG), is mindful of Vandel's concern.
"I think he's right to be concerned. We are, too," Cook said, pointing out that even before the hurricane, Congress was seeking to trim $3 billion in proposed agricultural spending in a budget reconciliation bill.
"That's when people start looking at conservation and rural development and all the other things that aren't as dear to the heart of ag committee members as subsidies."
The EWG produces a comprehensive data base each year that shows how much money every farmer receiving federal crop subsidies gets.
The EWG argues that subsidies should be capped and more of the farm bill money directed to programs such as CRP.
South Dakota's senators pledge to defend agricultural spending.
"With rising fuel costs, drought and potential problems getting this year's harvest to market, it would be inappropriate to cut funding for agricultural programs," said Sen. John Thune.
Sen. Tim Johnson points out Congress already has committed $62 billion to hurricane relief and restoration, and preliminary estimates suggest the total cost might be $200 billion.
"Breathtaking," Johnson calls it, especially when "you keep in mind the total budget for the state of South Dakota, both federal and state money, is $3 billion."
Johnson also notes President Bush not only doesn't want to raise taxes to provide hurricane recovery revenue, he wants to make permanent $70 billion in tax cuts.
"All domestic discretionary programs are in some jeopardy, potentially," Johnson said.
However, "CRP and Wetlands Reserve are two areas that should not be subject to cuts," he said. "You want to go where the big bucks are, and the Wetlands Reserve and CRP are not it."
The total CRP budget, Johnson said, is less than $2 billion, and the Wetlands Reserve budget only $274 million.
The Wetlands Reserve program first became part of the farm bill in 1990. It pays landowners to protect 1.47 million acres of privately owned wetlands, nearly half of them in the lower Mississippi Valley states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois.
The natural defenders of wetlands are waterfowl hunters, since wetlands provide breeding and wintering grounds for ducks and geese. But with floods on the nation's mind because of the kaleidoscope of misery televised nonstop from New Orleans, Vandel said a larger public might be receptive to lessons about the tremendous ability of wetlands to draw pollutants from water and to store potential floodwater.
"It's all connected," he said. "The isolated, temporary seasonal wetlands in the Dakotas hold and purify water that goes down the Missouri system into the Mississippi.
"When you enhance the functional value of wetlands in South Dakota, it's positive for Louisiana."
Cook calls the aftermath of the hurricane "a moment when the public understands you can't fool Mother Nature. You can't even head fake Mother Nature."
On a strictly hunting note, Vandel says there is probably sufficient wintering habitat undisturbed by the hurricane for migratory waterfowl in the East and Midwest that use the region.
For waterfowl populations, "the bottleneck still remains in the breeding grounds," Vandel said. "What happens in South Dakota has much greater impact than what happens in an isolated area in Louisiana.
"That's my gut feeling on this."
But what happens in South Dakota might depend on how Congress treats conservation spending as it searches for money to rebuild Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf Coast.
"For all the incredible human and environmental damage done by the hurricane, to also break the levee around conservation spending too, that would be very shortsighted," Cook said. "But I'm afraid that we're all going to be filling sand bags before long to protect conservation spending."