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.

The Pollinator Protection Research Act of 2007 will be introduced by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) in the next several weeks. 

This bill not only addresses Colony Collapse Disorder in honey bees, but also the decline of native pollinators in North America. This bill will enhance funding for research on the parasites, pathogens, toxins, and other environmental factors that affect honey bees and native bees. It supports research into the biology of native bees and their role in crop pollination, diversifying the pollinators upon which agriculture relies.

The Pollinator Protection Research Act provides for:

• $25.25 million to the Agriculture Research Service over five years for research, personnel, and facility improvements regarding honey bee and native bee biology, causes/solutions for CCD, and bee toxicology, pathology, and physiology.
  

• $50 million to the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service over five years to fund research grants to investigate honey bee and native bee biology, immunology, ecology, genomics, bioinformatics, parasites, pathogens, sublethal effects of insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides, native bee crop pollination and habitat conservation, and effects of genetically modified crops.
  

• $11.25 million to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service over five years to conduct a nationwide honey bee pest and pathogen surveillance program.
  

• Annual reporting to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate on the status and progress of bee research projects.
  

The Pollinator Protection Research Act of 2007 works in conjunction with Senator Baucus’
Pollinator Habitat Protection Act (introduced May 24, 2007), of which Senator Boxer is a cosponsor.
The Pollinator Habitat Protection Act addresses an important aspect of CCD and the
decline of pollinators in general: the continued loss of pollinator habitat due to development. The
Pollinator Habitat Protection Act leverages existing conservation efforts to improve the health of our
nation’s pollinators.

Senator Boxer’s Pollinator Protection Research Act differs in that it directly applies research
funding to strengthen honey bees and native bees, the foundation of crop pollination in the U.S. Honey
bees and native bees are vital for $15 billion and $3 billion in crop production each year, respectively,
yet research in these fields has received little funding and attention throughout its history. No other
industry or service that provides such vital services to this nation is as under-funded as beekeeping and
native bee management and habitat conservation.

In conjunction, these two bills take major steps to focus resources and conservation efforts on the
decline of honey bees, native bees, and other pollinators, and provide a foundation for further study
into a service we have often taken for granted.

Current cosponsors include: Casey (PA), Thune (SD), Clinton (NY), Bill Nelson (FL), Menendez (NJ), Durbin (IL), and Brown (OH)

To find contact information for your Senator go to: To find contact information for your senator go to: www.senate.gov/index.htm . 

For more information about the Pollinator Protection Research Act of 2007 and for information about native pollinators, see the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.