September 15, 2000

TFB opposes wildlife
refuge expansion

Lana Robinson
Field Editor

Two little birds—the Golden-cheeked warbler and the Black-capped vireo—continue to ruffle the feathers of Central Texas land-owners. There seems to be no end to the problems surrounding these state and federally listed endangered species, the latest one in the form of a U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to expand the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge by approximately 30,000 acres in Burnet County. And as you might expect, Texas Farm Bureau was quick to express its opposition, calling the expansion plan “excessive and unnecessary.”

According to Don Petty, Texas Farm Bureau associate director of Commodity and Regulatory Activities, the federal government’s 30,000-acre acquisition plan, plus the 5,000-acre expansion approved in 1996, would bring the total approved acreage to 76,000 acres.

“The main action described in the environmental assessment is that of acquiring more federal land,” noted Petty. “Initiating actions as costly as the purchase of this amount of land is, in our opinion, impractical, unworkable, and unnecessary. We submit that there are numerous less costly, more effective, and property-rights-friendly ways to accomplish the conservation of endangered species.”

In a letter to Deborah Holle, refuge manager of the Balcones Canyonlands NWR, on behalf of Texas Farm Bureau, Petty outlined the problems with and offered alternatives to the USF&WS proposal.

“The fact that this land would be purchased from farmers, ranchers, and other landowners who have paid the tax money which will be used to convert their land from private to federal ownership is especially distasteful,” wrote Petty. “Many of these landowners do not want to sell their land and they do not want to be forced to operate within the boundaries of a federal wildlife refuge. They know that many regulations and legal encumbrances will come as a part of being designated as a federal wildlife reserve.”

Although the Fish and Wildlife Service’s official document em-phatically states that the land will be purchased at “fair market values” only from “willing sellers,” Petty pointed out that market values are automatically reduced when an area is designated as a proposed wildlife refuge. At the same time, it sets in motion a situation that makes landowners want to sell, simply to get out from under the restrictions that inevitably come with this type of federal designation.

“Therefore, we believe there is in reality, no ‘fair market’ and no ‘willing seller’ in this situation,” he argued.

Texas Farm Bureau insists there are better ways to protect and recover endangered and threatened species in Texas, where 97 percent of the land remains in the hands of private owners.

“We believe that private landowners will do the right thing with regard to the recovery of an endangered plant or animal. When armed with the knowledge of what has caused the decline of a specie and what needs to be done to recover it, people will do all in their power to help in that recovery,” Petty suggested.

In some cases, said Petty, incentives are needed to enable the landowner to carry out the management required by the recovery plan.

“These incentives come in various forms, and may even include payments to landowners, but these incentive programs are inevitably less costly than the outright purchase of land,” he said.

Petty cited examples of how landowners have tried to help in the recovery efforts of species through regional, multi-state “working groups,” formed by many of the state departments of natural resources. He said these groups have developed workable management plans which lessen the risk that some species may become listed or eventually become extinct or extirpated.

“The attitude of cooperation rather than coercion has had very positive effects on these efforts. Both government and non-government entities at local, state and national levels have come together to develop these management plans. Groups that have never cooperated before are working to find solutions because they know real progress is more likely to come from state and local efforts than from top-down, heavy-handed federal mandates,” Petty noted.

The TFB regulatory specialist also hailed the voluntary cowbird trapping initiative currently underway in much of Central Texas. Petty pointed to the successful reduction of the parasitism rate of the Black-capped vireo through this cooperative effort between private landowners and federal and state agencies.

“Scores of ranchers voluntarily agreed to trap and to report the results of their efforts to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department last year. The program will be expanded to other areas of the state over the next several years. This management technique has proven to be a highly effective method of increasing vireo numbers, and the program has provided training to cooperators so they will recognize and manage for adequate vireo habitat on their property,” Petty reported. “Practices such as this can only be achieved through voluntary efforts by landowners who see value in conserving the resource.”

Petty appealed to the agency to reconsider its Balcones Canyonlands NWR proposal and to instead work with private groups and individuals to develop conservation incentives, management guidelines and technical assistance programs aimed at achieving its goal of protecting the vireo and warbler.

“The Texas Farm Bureau would be glad to work with you in initiating these voluntary programs with farmers, ranchers, and other landowners in Texas,” he told Holle.

Petty sent copies of the letter to Sens. Phil Gramm and Kay Bailey Hutchison, key U.S. congressmen from the Lone Star State, and to Farm Bureau presidents in Burnet, Travis, and Williamson counties.