Director Steve Williams Remarks for Annual Meeting of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association

January 31, 2003

Thank you, Bob, and thanks to all the ranchers who could be here with us this morning.

I'd like to talk to you today about two things: habitat conservation, which is a main goal of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Endangered Species Act, which has tested the patience of ranchers and government officials alike over the years.

I came to Washington from Kansas, and during my tenure there as Secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, I spent a great deal of time on front porches across the state, talking with families who make their living from the land.

If there's one thing I learned, it's that landowners care deeply about wildlife. They also see a diverse group of species as a sign of a healthy, vibrant range. Maybe that's why they became especially frustrated in the past, when they felt that the Endangered Species Act punished them for improving their property and providing habitat for endangered species. They feared facing additional land use restrictions because they did the right thing!

Well I'm here to say that you can relax. Because on my watch, good deeds do not get punished at the Fish and Wildlife Service! In fact we are going out of our way to strike a fair balance between respecting individual property rights, conserving wildlife and protecting endangered species.

What's more, as members of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, you certainly don't need a lesson from me in good land stewardship. For more than 100 years, the NCBA has made wise stewardship of natural resources an essential part of its mission.

Since 1991, NCBA members have competed for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association's Environmental Stewardship Award. This award program recognizes ranchers' efforts to increase available forage, improve water quality and promote more abundant wildlife. It also provides cattlemen with examples and ideas that may be useful on their own farms and ranching operations. The result is a win-win for ranchers, and for the planet as a whole.

I believe that preserving our nation's farms and ranches should be a real priority. After all, many of us truly believe in the old bumper sticker that says, "Cows Not Condos." We know that if ranches are subdivided and developed, significant habitat for wildlife will be lost forever. This is why the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working to help private landowners provide habitat for endangered species, as they improve the overall abundance of fish and wildlife on their land.

Knowing how passionately you feel about your land;

Knowing how much you care about the world around you;

Knowing that more unites us than divides us on this issue, I want to remind you that together, we are making progress.

The Fish and Wildlife Service offers a variety of incentives and voluntary arrangements to restore habitat and protect endangered species. Sometimes the goal is simply to restore degraded habitat. Other times, it is specifically to protect an endangered species, or to reassure a landowner that he or she will not be penalized for making improvements that help an endangered or threatened species to thrive.

The Service also recognizes that our nation's ranchers work every day to conserve the habitat of plants, wildlife and fish, and save endangered species. We realize we cannot succeed in recovering these species without the help of private landowners. That's why it's so important for private landowners and the Service to work together in an atmosphere of mutual trust.

For example, right here in Tennessee, the Fish and Wildlife Service has been working with local landowners and other federal and state agencies to save the Barrens topminnow. Habitat for this fish is found only on private property, so ranchers and farmers clearly deserve recognition for their efforts.

All across the country, by working with the Fish and Wildlife Service to draft Habitat Conservation Plans, ranchers and irrigation districts are helping to conserve endangered species. Because they use Habitat Conservation Plans, they are authorized to apply for permits that allow limited and incidental take of listed species.

• The Service is developing a Habitat Conservation Plan for the Walla Walla River basin in eastern Oregon and Washington, by working with ranchers, irrigation districts, tribes and other government agencies to increase stream flows, which will benefit the threatened bull trout.

Another critical tool is what's known as a Safe Harbor Agreement. While drafting Safe Harbor Agreements, the Service provides landowners with the technical assistance that helps in the battle to save endangered species.

Safe Harbor Agreements give landowners assurances that they will not be penalized with new land restrictions after improving their property and providing habitat for endangered species.

When their agreements expire, landowners can return their land to the condition it was in before the improvements were made without penalty – as long as the improvements provide a net conservation benefit to the species.

• Ranchers are conserving endangered species in places that may surprise you. In Hawaii, cattle ranchers are working with the State and the Fish and Wildlife Service to provide habitat for the endangered nene, or Hawaiian goose, through Safe Harbor Agreements. Ranching operations maintain the open, short grass habitat favored by nene, provide water in stock ponds or mechanical units, and have fewer predators, such as feral dogs.


• In southeastern Texas, ranchers along the Gulf Coast prairies have signed Safe Harbor Agreements and are working to restore coastal prairie habitat for the endangered Attwater's prairie chicken.

The Bush Administration and Congress recognize that habitat restoration is costly, and that many landowners can not afford to improve their land without financial assistance. That's why at the administration's request, Congress approved $50 million last year for the Fish and Wildlife Service's Landowner Incentive Program and Private Stewardship Grants. The goal is to make it easier for private landowners to conserve a wide range of wildlife, including endangered species.

• The ranchers I just mentioned in the Gulf Coast prairies of southeastern Texas have received more than $500,000 in grants from the Service for their efforts to restore habitat and save the Attwater's prairie chicken. In the process, two other endangered species – the Houston toad and the Texas prairie dawn-flower – have benefitted. Also, landowners have received cost-share incentives to carry out prairie habitat conservation practices such as brush control, grazing management and prescribed burning to improve the health of their rangeland.

When I worked in Kansas, I saw firsthand how providing financial incentives to landowners can help to restore habitat for game species as well as endangered ones. While I was Secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, we started the Walk-In Hunting Areas program, which compensated landowners who allowed hunting on their property and provided state funding to improve and maintain wildlife habitat on their land. We started this program in 1995, and six years later there were tracts in 99 counties totaling more than 800,000 acres.

Another incentive arrangement is the Service's very successful Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, which restores habitat at no cost to the participating landowner. Since 1987, landowners have voluntarily offered their drained wetlands and degraded upland habitat, and more than 87,000 acres of wetlands basins have been restored. In return for the restoration, the landowner agrees to protect the restored wetlands and uplands for a minimum of 10 years.

• The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program helped Darrel Wood – who owns a 1,200-acre ranch along Pete's Creek in northeastern California – to restore wetland and riparian habitat:
  

• Fencing keeps grazing cattle from encroaching on 345 acres along the creek, allowing sedges, willows and other wetland plants to return;
  

• Livestock management modifications allow native grasses to colonize formerly bare areas;
  And with help from the Service, Mr. Wood has installed a dam that created a seasonal wetland to benefit sage grouse, sandhill cranes and other wildlife.
  

• After enhancing the wetlands on his ranch, Mr. Wood's livestock carrying capacity has increased from 200 to 300 pairs, and weaning weights have increased from 400 to 650 pounds.


• By allowing limited hunting of waterfowl, upland game birds, deer and antelope, Mr. Wood has diversified his ranch income.


• For the last 10 years, the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program has helped willing landowners in Montana with restoration.


• With funding from the Migratory Bird and the Land and Water Conservation Fund programs, the Service has purchased conservation easements from these landowners. The proceeds from these purchases have made a big difference for economically strapped landowners, who face the prospect of losing their land and seeing it chopped up into ranchettes.


• Traditional activities like grazing, irrigation and timber production are allowed, but landowners have agreed not to subdivide, drain wetlands, or convert native grasses. The best land is restored through the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program.

So as you can see, we are making progress when it comes to helping landowners as they improve the country's natural resources:

• Through our Habitat Conservation Plans and Safe Harbor Agreements, we let ranchers know that when they conserve habitat and protect endangered species, their good deeds are rewarded, not punished.
  

• With grants and the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, we minimize the cost of habitat restoration, and encourage landowners who want to do the right thing. This makes it possible to protect endangered species and enhance habitat for a wide variety of fish and wildlife populations.

Yet I believe there is even more we can be doing, so I'm happy to announce a new work-exchange program that the Service and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association are creating. [Spearheading this effort for your association is the Vice Chair of the Committee on Property Rights and Environmental Management, Bob McCan.]

We call our new work-exchange program "Ride a Mile in My Saddle ... Walk a Mile in My Boots."

It's no secret that some ranchers have worked with people from the Service who do not understand the rural lifestyle. Our country is increasingly urban, and more and more kids grow up without experiencing life on a farm or ranch.

So we are concerned that we need to provide a way – especially for our younger employees – to learn more about the reality of rural life. At the same time, I doubt many ranchers know what the biologists in some of our busy field offices go through every day, especially with regard to the pressures of dealing with regulations and lawsuits.

This job exchange program will allow ranchers and Fish and Wildlife Service staff the opportunity to spend a few days working on the "other side of the fence," so to speak. Hands-on experience will give both groups the opportunity:

• to increase communication;


• to gain a better understanding each other's lifestyles and the challenges we both face;


• and to develop productive working relationships based on trust.

As I've explained today, there are tremendous opportunities for
landowners and the Fish and Wildlife Service to work together to
improve habitat and conserve endangered species.

In many states, most endangered species are found on private land; so
we need your help and we know it.

By the same token, we all know that habitat restoration is expensive. The
Service has a variety of grants and other incentive programs that serve to
ease the financial burden. The end result – more species diversity and a
healthy, vibrant range – is a win-win for everyone.

Remember, more unites us than divides us. Let's work together to
conserve the land and wildlife we care about so much.