by Bob Marshall

Some critics of my posts occasionally claim to see a hidden political agenda when I report specific actions by specific politicians and parties that threaten serious damage to programs that protect the resources supporting our sports. Some even believe I exaggerate the support from hunting and fishing groups for those programs and protections.

For this post, I'll let the nation's hunters and anglers speak for me.

In this case the issue is "Sodsaver," a feature of the Farm Bill that has protected our precious but dwindling base of upland cover since 1985. It doesn't cost taxpayers anything. It works by telling farmers they will lose government subsidies if they decide to plant land that hasn't felt a plow in at least 20 years. Yet there are some in Congress who would see it weakened or killed.

by Bob Marshall

Are they crazy or brilliant?

That's a question Trout Unlimited and a growing number of sportsmen are asking about the House leadership after it launched yet another attempt to block a proposed new wetlands guidance that could restore protection to millions of acres of wetlands, including headwaters of trout streams across the West.

The latest effort comes from the House Appropriations Committee, which voted along party lines for a measure that would prevent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from spending any money to implement the guidance, expected to be issued by the Obama Administration in the next few months.

Two House GOP budgets previously contained similar policy directives, neither of which made it through Congress. But the fact this try came so late in the game – and from a different vector – makes many conservationists nervous.

by Bob Marshall

While some Western congressmen may be trying to "release" roadless and wilderness areas, sportsmen in their home states cheered last week as the Colorado roadless rule to protect such habitat moved one step closer to completion.

The Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership praised the release of the U.S. Forest Service's final environmental impact statement of that rule in a combined statement that said "while citing the need for final refinements called this version an "on-target plan for managing more than 4 million acres of public lands." The rule can become law in 30 days.

by Bob Marshall

If there's one word waterfowlers and others concerned about wetlands should keep in mind in the weeks ahead it's this: Buster.

As in Swampbuster and Sodbuster--two programs in The Farm Bill that are critical to preserving some of the nation's most important waterfowl wetlands habitat. And both are at some serious risk as Congress continues to consider reauthorization of the Farm Bill.

Sodbuster, which dates to 1985, seeks to prevent landowners from plowing grasslands that have remained intact for at least 20 years by costing them eligibility to some or all farm assistance payments. The original goal was to prevent plowing of highly erodible lands from adding to the high environmental cost of erosion, which impacts everything from floods to water and air quality. But the practice also aids wildlife by helping preserve the last reserves of native grass prairies--highly important as nesting cover for waterfowl.

by Bob Marshall

When is a $6 billion cut in conservation spending not labeled terrible news?

When it could have been a lot worse.

We're talking here about the Conservation Title in the Senate version of the new Farm Bill that cleared committee Thursday and moved to the floor of that chamber. Although the measure shows $6 billion in cuts over the next 10 years for cherished wildlife initiatives such as the Conservation Reserve Program, that amounts to about a 10 percent cut in previous funding rather than the deep and senseless chops some in Congress were advocating about a year ago.

by Bob Marshall

It’s called “The Sportsmen’s Heritage Act of 2012,“ but this House-passed bill (H.R. 4089), has some of the nation’s highest-profile sportsmen’s groups facing off as the measure travels to the Senate.

At issue are sections of the bill which would open portions of roadless areas in the west to motorized traffic, such as ATVs, as well as other uses prohibited by the Roadless Rule. (Editor's note: See Hal Herring's blog post on roadless areas remaining in the U.S.)

Most sportsmen’s groups, such as the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, and wildlife managers have long opposed such openings, pointing to these undeveloped areas as key reservoirs of fish and wildlife in some of the nation’s last remaining pristine habitats. Hunting guide organizations as well as most western hunters also oppose openings, because roadless areas protect traditional wilderness hunting and fishing experiences accessed by only by hoof or foot.