Conservation-What Will The 2007 Farm Bill mean for ducks?

Your involvement is essential to ensure the new bill benefits waterfowl populations

By Barton James

Recent issues of Ducks Unlimited have highlighted the Farm Bill’s significant contributions to waterfowl over the past 20 years. As this series of articles pointed out, the Farm Bill is one of America’s most successful wildlife conservation tools, because it provides farmers and ranchers with incentives to “farm the best, conserve the rest.”

The current Farm Bill expires in 2007, and DU has made the inclusion of our policy objectives a top priority for the new bill. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) so vital to duck nesting success is in real trouble. Your support and participation are critical to protect programs that produce and sustain waterfowl.

Grassroots Support Needed for Waterfowl

As a voter, you have the most powerful tool available to influence waterfowl conservation policy on Capitol Hill. Your vote gives you the ability to be heard. Without hearing from you, your legislator does not know what is important to you as a DU member.

In Washington, D.C., lawmakers use the term “grassroots” to refer to the folks back home—that is, the people who elect them. Legislators always consider how the grassroots will react to a given legislative proposal before endorsing or opposing it. Waterfowlers willing to participate in the process and communicate DU’s priorities on the Farm Bill to Congress are crucial to influencing agricultural policy.

The best grassroots and advocacy groups do more than ask their members to contact lawmakers on key issues just before a vote is taken. They keep their members informed and involved at all levels of the policy process. Through this magazine, our website, and e-mail updates, DU will ensure that you have the most current information about what is happening with the Farm Bill, so you can confidentially communicate with your congressman and senators. By providing your opinion while legislation is being developed, your input can influence the outcome much more than when the bill is about to go to a vote.

How to Ensure Our Message Is Heard

A single letter from a constituent might be ignored or overlooked by a legislator. But just five letters about an issue can put it on the politician’s radar screen, and 50 letters can be enough to convince a lawmaker to change his or her position. Concerted grassroots efforts ensure that our message is heard by legislators and equally important, lets legislators know you’ll hold them accountable.

According to Fortune magazine, the most effective organizations influencing policy (NRA, AARP, and organized labor) are those that draw on the collective voice of their membership. DU’s more than 650,000 members in the United States give us an incredible voice. As a DU member, you have shown you care about the future of waterfowl and other wildlife. You are part of DU’s collective voice, and your willingness to communicate with members of Congress is critically important. Besides sending letters, you can effectively communicate the legislative priorities and goals of DU through e-mails, phone calls, and personal visits to legislators. You are most effective in telling the DU story by relating personal experience or expertise as a waterfowler or landowner.

In today’s environment, grassroots involvement is not just important for DU’s political success, it is absolutely essential. There are DU members in every state and every single congressional district, allowing our voice to be heard by all of Congress.

Other Ways to Ensure DU’s Priorities Are Included in the Next Farm Bill

Attend Town Hall Meetings. During congressional recesses, lawmakers host town hall meetings in their districts. These meetings present an excellent opportunity to publicly ask questions and educate members of Congress about DU’s Farm Bill priorities.

Monitor the Media and Write Letters to the Editor. By monitoring the media and responding to editorials about agricultural policy, you can educate your community about the significance of the Farm Bill to waterfowl and wetlands in your flyway.

Take Advantage of DU’s Electronic Services. You will be most effective in influencing policymakers when you know, value, and understand an issue. In addition to our e-newsletters, you can sign up to be part of our Take Action Campaigns on the DU website to ensure you have information on pressing issues.

Spread the Word. You are the “ground troops” in educating your family, friends, and fellow waterfowlers on why they need to get involved. Here’s the message we need you to deliver on the Farm Bill:

• The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is critical to waterfowl. Each year more than 2 million ducks are produced on CRP lands in the Prairie Pothole Region of the Dakotas and Montana.
  
  
• The continental United States has lost more than half its wetlands and continues to lose habitat at an alarming rate. DU supports maintaining wetland protection through established disincentives for wetland conversion.
  
  
• The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) has restored more than 1.75 million wetland acres, including more than 555,000 acres in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley states.
  
  
• More than 11 million acres of native prairie will be converted to other uses unless action is taken by Congress. DU is working to ensure the 2007 Farm Bill will discourage conversion of this critical habitat.

For more information on Farm Bill programs, visit www.ducks.org and see the following articles from previous issues of Ducks Unlimited: “Debate Begins on the 2007 Farm Bill,” July/August 2006; “Plowing the Prairie,” July/August 2006; “Farming for Ducks,” September/October 2006; “New CRP Practice Emphasizes Ducks,” November/December 2006; and “Winter Homes for Waterfowl,” November/December 2006.
 
Barton James is the governmental affairs representative at DU’s Washington, D.C., office.