President Calls Conference on Environment

PHOTO: While attending the conference in St. Louis, cattle producer David Cook of Globe, Ariz., right, asks Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns for Farm Bill hearings in Arizona. At left is Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Mark Rey.

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By Benjamin L. Higgins,

Executive Vice President,

California Cattlemen’s Association

The first presidential conference on the environment since 1965 took place in St. Louis Aug. 29-31. The White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation was convened to provide a forum for a diverse group of stakeholders to exchange information and identify innovative and effective approaches to promoting cooperative conservation of America’s natural resources. The event was co-hosted by the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency, and attended by a number of cattle industry representatives.

Jim Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said prior to the event that a major focus would be to generate support for the expansion and enhancement of federal programs that allow for local conservation efforts, and yet also "reduce some of the expansive machinery of government that can sometimes get in the way." Five cabinet secretaries participated in the event: Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior; Mike Johanns, Secretary of Agriculture; Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense; Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson; and Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez.

The White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation also served as a springboard for a number of new Bush Administration conservation initiatives. Those initiatives of particular interest to the beef cattle industry are as follows:

• Norton announced that the Bush Administration "will soon be submitting legislation to further the potential for cooperative conservation." While few details exist at this time as to the nature and focus of this legislation, the beef cattle industry looks forward to working with members of Congress to ensure that this legislation reflects the needs and priorities of ranchers.

• Johanns announced that a comprehensive plan pertaining to re-enrollment and extension of Conservation Reserve Program contracts would be available in "weeks, not months." Over 28 million acres of land currently enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (representing over 70 percent of the total enrollment) is slated to expire in 2006-2010. Johanns stated that Farm Service Agency will soon offer re-enrollment of contracts on acres that provide the highest level of environmental benefit, and the vast majority of contracts not re-enrolled will be offered extensions. Program details are being finalized with the Council on Environmental Quality.  

•  Johanns also announced that the Natural Resource Conservation Service would soon make an additional $30 million available through voluntary cost-share conservation programs. The funding consists of savings derived from state and national level projects and will now be dedicated to conservation payments. While details have not yet been made available on which programs will utilize these funds, it is expected that significant portions will be dedicated to the Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program, and the Grassland Reserve Program.

•  Johanns also announced the creation of a Market-Based Environmental Stewardship Coordination Council to broaden the use of new market incentives which encourage landowners to invest in the maintenance, creation and restoration of healthy ecosystems. He described a future where credits for clean water, greenhouse gases or wetlands, or other environmental benefits generated on farms and ranches can be traded as easily as corn or soybeans. The council will ensure that a sound market-based approach to the valuation of conservation services is developed.

Ranchers and beef cattle producers were featured prominently throughout the conference. A number of educational forums touted specific efforts by ranchers to work collaboratively in maintaining working landscapes, including those conducted by the Malpai Borderlands Group, and partnerships between South Dakota ranchers, Ducks Unlimited, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. In her keynote speech to Conference attendees, Secretary Norton discussed efforts by California Cattlemen’s Association and NCBA member Tim Koopmann to protect California Tiger Salamander habitat. Also featured during the event was the Walk a Mile in my Boots program, developed by NCBA and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.