By Bob Marshall

Ducks Unlimited is orchestrating a “social media blitz” today to let Congress understand how much sportsmen want a new Farm Bill passed--because the conservation measures in that bill are the platform that have supported some of the most effective waterfowl and wildlife conservation programs ever. The last Congress dropped the ball in the contentious last-minute negotiations over appropriations, and the new bill that been hammered out for more than a year was never passed.
 
DU is asking its members and all sportsmen to Tweet about the bill as often as possible Wednesday, always adding #2013FarmBill, and share its Farm Bill story on its Facebook page.
 
As Dale Hall, CEO of DU, says pointedly, “Our situation is dire. A recent study from South Dakota State University tracked a 1.3-million-acre loss of grassland over a five-year period. This rapid rate of habitat loss hasn’t happened so quickly since the Dust Bowl era. The United States has also lost more than 50 percent of its wetlands. Meanwhile, the new expiration date of the farm bill continues to creep closer.”
 
The farm bill’s conservation programs help incentivize keeping native grasslands intact and prevents wetland drainage.

Comments (3)

from clinchknot wrote 15 weeks 3 days ago

Big question is "why are public lands being lost?" With unemployment high, state tax receipts are dwindling forcing states into deep debt. Many states feel justified in recovering these set aside public lands, and selling them creating revenue to balance their books. Validates a point I've made for a long, long time. Create a strong private sector that pays the bills, and you don't face a situation were conservation programs are adversely effected. The first to go in a recession like economy are recreational, conservation programs.

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from hhack wrote 15 weeks 3 days ago

The problem with the farm bill has been all the other b***s*** that is getting thrown in with it. The last proposed farm bill should have been named the food stamp bill because that was where all the money was going.

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from clinchknot wrote 15 weeks 3 days ago

hhack...Good post, and that is a major problem. Slimeball bureaucrats buy votes adding tons of money to a bill in the middle of the nite before passage, and then decent politicians, if there is such a thing, then vote it down because of all the crap that is added. Then they get portrayed as someone that is against hunting etc.

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from clinchknot wrote 15 weeks 3 days ago

Big question is "why are public lands being lost?" With unemployment high, state tax receipts are dwindling forcing states into deep debt. Many states feel justified in recovering these set aside public lands, and selling them creating revenue to balance their books. Validates a point I've made for a long, long time. Create a strong private sector that pays the bills, and you don't face a situation were conservation programs are adversely effected. The first to go in a recession like economy are recreational, conservation programs.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from hhack wrote 15 weeks 3 days ago

The problem with the farm bill has been all the other b***s*** that is getting thrown in with it. The last proposed farm bill should have been named the food stamp bill because that was where all the money was going.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from clinchknot wrote 15 weeks 3 days ago

hhack...Good post, and that is a major problem. Slimeball bureaucrats buy votes adding tons of money to a bill in the middle of the nite before passage, and then decent politicians, if there is such a thing, then vote it down because of all the crap that is added. Then they get portrayed as someone that is against hunting etc.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

Post a Comment

 

All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.