Non Partisan Conservation

Non Partisan Conservation

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
The budget President Obama recently sent to Congress recommended full funding for popular USDA conservation programs which help farmers and ranchers improve water quality, soil health, and wildlife habitat across America. For years, the president and Congress have raided the conservation "piggy bank," repeatedly slashing Farm Bill funding levels set by law. Particularly hard hit have been the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which have seen billions of dollars in cuts. For the first time in many years, the president's budget proposal includes no cuts to these critical conservation programs.

I asked Whit Fosburgh, president and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership if one side of the house or the other was more apt to be in favor of conservation and was one side or the other more inclined towards hunting and fishing? "Conservation has never been an issue regardless of administrations in power over the past century, conservation has been a priority. If you look at our demographics or the demographics of Ducks Unlimited, it is skewed a little bit Republican, yes but part of the problem is that co-authored by either of the two parties means nothing happens so our point is that this is the one issue that should be completely nonpartisan."

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