Texas Conservation Groups Support USDA Conservation Funding

Environmental Defense
Tuesday, 12 March 2002

Eighteen Texas organizations today urged two key Texas lawmakers to include $4.4 billion in annual funding for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) conservation programs in the Farm Bill, including $246 million in annual funding to help farmers and ranchers create habitat for wildlife.

The groups sent their request in a letter to Reps. Larry Combest (R-TX) and Charles Stenholm (D-TX), the highest ranking members of the House Agriculture Committee, who are now negotiating with their Senate counterparts on a new, 5-year Farm Bill.

While the House Farm Bill includes only $3.3 billion in annual average funding for USDA conservation programs, the Senate bill includes $4.4 billion in annual average funding for programs that reward farmers and ranchers who restore wildlife habitat or improve water quality.

Today, most farmers and ranchers are rejected when they seek USDA funds to help the environment. Farmers and ranchers in Texas currently face a $178.5 million backlog.

"Farmers and ranchers in Texas are facing the nation's biggest backlog when they seek USDA conservation assistance to help wildlife, water and the environment," said Kirby Brown of the Texas Wildlife Association. "Representatives Combest and Stenholm will be in a position to make sure USDA rewards, rather than turns away, these stewards when they offer to help meet our conservation and environmental challenges."

"The conservation funding recommended in the Farm Bill truly represents our State's best bet for recovering millions of acres of grasslands, prairies, wetlands, and hardwood bottomlands that provide critical habitat for birds and wildlife," said Terry Austin of Audubon Texas. "The Farm Bill, and the special partnerships and alliances it fosters, have the potential to be the 'great conservation initiative' of the 21st Century."

Ninety-seven percent of Texas is privately owned, so conservation incentives are the foundation of a healthy environment. A 2000 report by Governor Bush's Task Force on Conservation, Taking Care of Texas, called for more incentives for private lands conservation.

The letter was signed by American Farmland Trust - Texas Region, Audubon Texas, Bayou Preservation Association, Bull Creek Foundation, Central Texas Environmental Network, Christian Life Commission Baptist General Convention of Texas, Environmental Defense - Texas Office, Friends of Clear Creek, Katy Prairie Conservancy, Legacy Land Trust, Llano Estacado Audubon Society, Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Basin Coalition, San Marcos River Foundation, Save Barton Creek Association, Texas Center for Policy Studies, Texas Rivers Protection Association, Texas Wildlife Association, and Valley Land Fund.

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