Litigation is the Wrong Answer for Conservation

October 22, 2004

“Cattlemen applaud the Bush Administration’s strong support for conservation programs enacted as part of the 2002 Farm Bill.  The cattle industry and the Administration agree that the best way to implement effective private land resource conservation is through participation in the policy development process made available through U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) state technical committees.

“Attempts by litigation-eager groups to continually resort to our legal system to pursue their agenda do little to achieve real conservation goals and impair the programs we have in place which actually benefit our land.

“Just this week, an environmental group and six of its state affiliates filed suit against the Bush Administration claiming USDA failed to provide the public adequate notice of policy regarding haying and grazing during bird nesting season, on private lands enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).  But, the haying and grazing policy in each state is developed by a USDA state technical committee on which the public, including environmental and agricultural interests, may participate. 

“Development of these policies is completely transparent. The open democratic process for conservation policy development allows the public to participate on technical committees in each state. The state-by-state committees make official policy through this process.  It’s unproductive for groups to participate in the policy development process at the state technical committee level and then threaten lawsuits when they don’t like the agreed-upon results.

“Those truly concerned with benefiting the land understand that real conservation will only occur with the participation and concurrence of all stakeholders.  Litigation only serves to drive wedges between people who should be working together, and reduces funding available for valuable conservation programs.”