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September 21, 2005
Lawmakers eye financial incentives to landowners
By SAMANTHA YOUNG
But one proposal picking up steam in Congress would pay property owners who volunteer to care for endangered and threatened species. "If you change the incentives and make it a positive for property owners, you will have property owners managing differently," Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., on Thursday told a House committee examining the idea. Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee, is finalizing a bill that would create a series of grants, credits and tax incentives to help landowners pay for protective measures. He said he plans to unveil his bill next week. While the incentives have been greeted broadly, the Pombo bill is expected to be controversial because it also will include contentious provisions that scale back critical habitat designations and raise the scientific standard that must be met to trigger protections. The proposed financial incentives are being embraced by property owners, farmers and environmental groups. They said landowners often are left reaching into their own wallets to care for wildlife. "What many people do not recognize is that protecting species and their habitat requires financial support, time and requires technical expertise," said Nancy McNally, executive director of the National Endangered Species Act Reform Coalition. But the $4 billion cost of could prove to be too expensive for Congress, said Del. Donna Christensen, D-Virgin Islands. "I just wonder, if the funding is not there, the bill does no good," Christensen said. Two years ago, the Fish and Wildlife Service reported a $153 million backlog in critical habitat designations for endangered species. The Bush administration's 2006 budget requested $18.1 million for the project. Congress approved the 1973 Endangered Species Act in an effort to save vulnerable plants and wildlife like the bald eagle, the gray wolf and the Yellowstone grizzly bear. At the time of the law's enactment, 109 species were enrolled for protection. Today the Fish and Wildlife Service lists 1,264 species, with roughly 80 percent living on private lands. While environmental groups laud the success of the law, others contend landowners are paying the price of strict federal regulation on their farmland, business or backyards. "Many landowners would like to protect listed species, but ESA as currently written makes that difficult," said Bob Peterson, president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation. |
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