Posted on 06/30/2005 12:53:40 PM PDT by freepatriot32
Senate passes "Partners for Fish and Wildlife Act"
By Gretchen Randall
Date: June 29, 2005
Issue: The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Act (S. 260) passed the U.S. Senate Monday with unanimous approval. The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program is the primary program within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service delivering habitat improvement projects on private land through voluntary agreements with private landowners. The bill authorizes the program for the next five years (2006-2011) and provides $75 million each year for this habitat conservation program.
Noting that approximately 60 percent of fish and wildlife in the United States are on private land, the bill provides financial assistance to private landowners to restore and manage fish and wildlife habitat on their land. According to bill sponsor, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), the projects in the program are financed primarily by the landowner, not the federal government.
The Partners program was established in 1987 by executive order of President Reagan. The Senate bill would double the funding for the program and make it law. Congressman John Sullivan (R-OK) has introduced companion legislation, H.R. 2018, in the U.S. House.
Comment 1: These on-the-ground initiatives are the programs that actually succeed in protecting and recovering species, as opposed to the endless and expensive litigation that has become the hallmark of the Endangered Species Act. All conservation programs should create positive incentives to protect species and, above all, should hold the rights of private landowners sacred." Senator James Inhofe (R-OK)
Comment 2: This is another effective way to encourage landowners to restore and maintain habitat for species. In addition, we need to update the Endangered Species Act so landowners aren't punished when endangered or threatened species are found on their property.
Background and links: Since 1987, the Partners Program has accomplished the restoration of 722,500 acres of wetlands, 1,573,700 acres of prairie and native grasslands, and nearly 5,900 miles of riparian and in-stream habitat through 35,039 agreements with private landowners.
Contact: Gretchen Randall Winningreen LLC 3712 N. Broadway PMB 279 Chicago, IL 60613 Phone: 773-857-5086 e-mail: grandall@winningreen.com
I saw the "Partners for Fish and Wildlife" in the title and figured this was going to be a logical extension of same-sex "marriage."
Me too, after I got past the "Senate Passes..." part.
When I see that I quickly reach back to hold on to my wallet!
BTTT!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHA!...is that you Souter?...Kennedy?...Ginsburg?...etal?.....
Make me laugh some more.
FMCDH(BITS)
Noting that approximately 60 percent of fish and wildlife in the United States are on private land
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So where are the other 40%? That is a LOT of public land.
The Fish And Wildlife beaurcrats believe that any private land is too much. Their idea of a partnership is that you pay the tax and they control all the other aspects of your land.
Note that expenditure of federal funds on private lands can create a federal nexus inviting federal requirements for consultation under the Endangered Species Act, NEPA, tribal trust and other federal baggage to the project. We need a program that cleans the funding so it doesn't dump that sort of baggage in the lap of the private property owner.
"His educational career began, interestingly enough, in agricultural school, where he majored in animal husbandry, until they... caught him at it one day..."-- from a Tom Lehrer comedy album
I expect that once the landowner accepts fed money that the fed will some day ask for their pound of flesh....or in this case, their acres of land.
Damned critters are living better than humans in this country.
Critters on the land don't pay taxes. Let's privatize, think of the tax revenue.
Was that the heartwarming story of the young necrophiliac who achieved his boyhood ambition and became coroner?
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