Post by osprey on Feb 19, 2008 9:22:08 GMT -5
Agency seeks to raise price of duck stamp
By FAITH BREMNER
Tribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to increase the cost of the federal duck stamp to raise millions of dollars to preserve and restore valuable wetlands used by ducks, geese and other critters.
The stamp now costs $15, but President Bush's 2009 budget proposal asks Congress to raise it to $25. Hunters must purchase one of the colorful stamps, along with a state hunting license, to legally shoot ducks and geese.
The stamp was created in 1934 as a way to raise money to purchase land in and around waterfowl habitat or purchase permanent easements, in which property owners promise to not do anything to the land that would harm the birds.
Last year, the Fish and Wildlife Service raised $24.2 million from the sale of more than 1.6 million duck stamps. The price increase would bring in another $14 million a year.
"It's been 17 years since we last increased it," said Casey Stemler, coordinator of the Fish and Wildlife Service's Prairie Pothole Joint Venture, a consortium of government agencies and non-profit groups that coordinates conservation projects.
"Anyone who has bought or sold a house recently recognizes that a lot of things have changed since 1991," Stemler said. "Our purchasing power has changed dramatically."
Land prices in America's farm country, where much of the best waterfowl habitat is located, has been on the rise because of increased worldwide demand for food and the production of corn ethanol, Stemler said. For example, in South Dakota the average cost per acre for grassland easements in 2002 was $147, he said. Last year, it was $285 an acre.
Dan Nelson, who edits a magazine for Delta Waterfowl, a non-profit national duck conservation group, said his organization has not taken an official position on the proposed increase. However, he said the nation's waterfowl habitat needs a lot more help than it's getting now.
Nelson said he would like to see a big chunk of the increase go to conserving breeding and nesting habitat in the Prairie Pothole Region, which is known as the nation's duck factory. The region, located in parts of Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa, consists of millions of shallow depressions that fill with water in the spring. Surrounded by tall grasses and brimming with invertebrates, the potholes are ideal breeding spots. More than half of the nation's ducks hatch there or use the area during their migrations.
Most of these potholes are surrounded by farm land, Nelson said, and are protected under the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program under 10-year and 15-year contracts. But as these contracts expire, a lot of farmers are putting the lands into production, Nelson said. During the past few years, the Prairie Pothole Region has lost 1 million acres of CRP grasslands and half a million acres of native prairie, he said.
"There are several million more acres of CRP going into crop production in the next three years," Nelson said. "It's imperative we get some dollars here to save grass. If this land is broken, most of those wetlands will go away."
Steve Hoffman, executive director of the Montana Audubon Society, said he supports the increase. The duck stamp program benefits all the birds that use the wetlands, not just ducks and geese. More and more birders are buying the stamps as a way to contribute to the conservation effort, Hoffman said. The stamps are sold at post offices and online.
"We can't rely on the federal government to fund everything anymore," Hoffman said. "It's going to take more of a shared responsibility on the part of all Americans, and the duck stamp is part of that process."
By FAITH BREMNER
Tribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to increase the cost of the federal duck stamp to raise millions of dollars to preserve and restore valuable wetlands used by ducks, geese and other critters.
The stamp now costs $15, but President Bush's 2009 budget proposal asks Congress to raise it to $25. Hunters must purchase one of the colorful stamps, along with a state hunting license, to legally shoot ducks and geese.
The stamp was created in 1934 as a way to raise money to purchase land in and around waterfowl habitat or purchase permanent easements, in which property owners promise to not do anything to the land that would harm the birds.
Last year, the Fish and Wildlife Service raised $24.2 million from the sale of more than 1.6 million duck stamps. The price increase would bring in another $14 million a year.
"It's been 17 years since we last increased it," said Casey Stemler, coordinator of the Fish and Wildlife Service's Prairie Pothole Joint Venture, a consortium of government agencies and non-profit groups that coordinates conservation projects.
"Anyone who has bought or sold a house recently recognizes that a lot of things have changed since 1991," Stemler said. "Our purchasing power has changed dramatically."
Land prices in America's farm country, where much of the best waterfowl habitat is located, has been on the rise because of increased worldwide demand for food and the production of corn ethanol, Stemler said. For example, in South Dakota the average cost per acre for grassland easements in 2002 was $147, he said. Last year, it was $285 an acre.
Dan Nelson, who edits a magazine for Delta Waterfowl, a non-profit national duck conservation group, said his organization has not taken an official position on the proposed increase. However, he said the nation's waterfowl habitat needs a lot more help than it's getting now.
Nelson said he would like to see a big chunk of the increase go to conserving breeding and nesting habitat in the Prairie Pothole Region, which is known as the nation's duck factory. The region, located in parts of Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa, consists of millions of shallow depressions that fill with water in the spring. Surrounded by tall grasses and brimming with invertebrates, the potholes are ideal breeding spots. More than half of the nation's ducks hatch there or use the area during their migrations.
Most of these potholes are surrounded by farm land, Nelson said, and are protected under the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program under 10-year and 15-year contracts. But as these contracts expire, a lot of farmers are putting the lands into production, Nelson said. During the past few years, the Prairie Pothole Region has lost 1 million acres of CRP grasslands and half a million acres of native prairie, he said.
"There are several million more acres of CRP going into crop production in the next three years," Nelson said. "It's imperative we get some dollars here to save grass. If this land is broken, most of those wetlands will go away."
Steve Hoffman, executive director of the Montana Audubon Society, said he supports the increase. The duck stamp program benefits all the birds that use the wetlands, not just ducks and geese. More and more birders are buying the stamps as a way to contribute to the conservation effort, Hoffman said. The stamps are sold at post offices and online.
"We can't rely on the federal government to fund everything anymore," Hoffman said. "It's going to take more of a shared responsibility on the part of all Americans, and the duck stamp is part of that process."
