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Texas Agriculture Archive

May 7, 2004

AFBF supports critical
habitat provisions

The American Farm Bureau Federation has thrown its support behind several provisions in the Critical Habitat Reform Act of 2003. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), would benefit endangered species, private landowners and the environment, said AFBF.

With the burden of Endangered Species Act regulations falling mostly on private landowners, AFBF is urging lawmakers to take the interests of farmers and ranchers into careful consideration when declaring critical habitat areas.

AFBF expressed its position in a statement to the House Resources Committee at a hearing held to consider the Cardoza bill, H.R. 2933. According to AFBF, "The effect of designating an area as 'critical habitat' may cause serious consequences to the owner or user of the designated land." Approximately 76 percent of all listed species occur to some extent on privately owned lands, and more than one-third occur exclusively on privately owned lands.

Of particular importance to AFBF, is a provision in the legislation that would exempt from critical habitat designation land covered under habitat conservation plans and other state or federal land conservation programs that are beneficial to listed endangered species.

According to AFBF, farmers and ranchers already voluntarily engage in habitat conservation programs at both the federal and state levels that accomplish the same things that critical habitat designation is designed to achieve. "Overlaying critical habitat designations on top of those programs is neither productive nor warranted," said AFBF.

The organization also is supportive of provisions in the bill that would require full consideration of the direct and indirect economic impacts of critical habitat designation on landowners and requiring the Interior Department to seek and consider information submitted by state and local governments in the critical habitat process.