Other Colorado electeds supporting the Endangered Species Recovery Act (HR 1422) are Senators Salazar and Allard and Representatives DeGette, Udall and Perlmutter. If passed, ESRA wold provide some $400 million a year in tax credits and incentives to landowners to conserve habitat for imperiled species on their land, where the majority of habitat for threatened and endangered species exists in the U.S. The last several years Center for Native Ecosystems has been working closely with Colorado agriculture groups, ranchers and farmers, conservationists and sportsmen to  improve programs that provide helpful support to  landowners in conserving some of our most imperiled wildlife.

Other conservation priorities for the House/Senate 2007 Farm Bill conference include:

Ensuring adequate funding for conservation in the Farm Bill. The $6 billion over six years for conservation programs designated by the Senate should remain in the final Farm Bill. Even with this modest increase, many conservation programs will be funded far below farmer demand. According to the NRCS, only 27% of all conservation contracts in Colorado were funded in 2004. NRCS turned away 3,874 landowners who volunteered to take measures to improve Colorado’s environment. In 2006, 449 Colorado EQIP applications (representing $11,597,495 in requests for cost-sharing to improve the environment) were unfunded. In2005, 123 Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP) easement applications went unfunded, leaving a total of 437,281 acres of Colorado grasslands without the protection of conservation easements.

Keeping the Senate provision that includes riparian areas on the conservation goals of the Wetlands Reserve Program. Given the relatively larger amount of riparian habitat in Colorado versus areas currently considered wetlands under this program, this change could particularly advance conservation in our state.

Keeping the House funding increase for the Grasslands Reserve Program, a vital program in Colorado in the West for preserving shrinking grasslands ecosystems. The House Farm Bill’s funding increase for the Grasslands Reserve Program should be maintained. This is one of the most important conservation programs in Colorado – both for our ranchers and producers and for protecting and restoring grasslands.

Keeping the Senate Farm Bill provision that provides assistance for proactive non-lethal predator deterrence. This provision assists landowners in putting into place proactive, non-lethal predator deterrence measures through the EQIP program. This provision would help such Colorado producers as sheep growers and ranchers, as well as our native wildlife.

Rejecting any proposals that would impose lower Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) eligibility limits on participants in conservation programs. Lowering AGI limits for conservation programs will undermine the ability of these programs to help farmers, ranchers and forest landowners effectively produce environmental benefits by excluding landowners who might be best positioned to have the greatest positive environmental impact from participating in conservation programs.

Clearly the Farm Bill could do much more to ensure that farmers and ranchers in Colorado and around the country are supported when they offer to share in the cost of improving water quality, improving wildlife habitat and becoming better stewards of their land.  Both our landowners and the natural resources that we all enjoy are depending on it.

For the sixth year in a row, conservation organizations like Center for Native Ecosystems and cities in Colorado and New Mexico have celebrated Prairie Dog Day.  Prairie Dog Day is inspired by Groundhog Day, which also took place this year on February 2nd.  While prairie dogs may not be as skilled at predicting the weather as the renowned Punxsutawney Phil, their fate is closely tied to the fate of the entire prairie ecosystem: as the prairie dog goes, so goes the swift fox, the burrowing owl, the ferruginous hawk, and the critically imperiled black-footed ferret.

There are five species of prairie dogs, and all five are keystone species.  The fate of hundreds of other species, in addition to entire ecosystems, depends in complicated ways on the fate of the prairie dogs.  One species, the Utah prairie dog, is already protected under the Endangered Species Act, yet the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allows the continued destruction of significant numbers of animals and significant habitat every year.  The Mexican prairie dog is also protected under the Act but occurs entirely outside of the U.S.  The other three species, all occurring in the United States, face continued threats and continued declines from oil and gas drilling, overgrazing, and habitat loss.

Joined by Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, the Denver Zoo, Forest Guardians (now WildEarth Guardians), the Prairie Dog Coalition, and others, we hope Prairie Dog Day helps bring increased attention to these ecologically-critical wildlife species and the ecosystems of which they are such a vital part.