CCA looks at wildlife incentives

By Larry Dreiling

Taking a proactive approach toward providing habitat for endangered and threatened wildlife species, while offering incentives to landowners, is the goal of a new program proposed by the Colorado Cattlemen's Association.

The proposal was explained during CCA's recent mid-winter conference at Colorado Springs.

The program is called a Recovery Credit System (RCS). It would provide landowners with incentives for creating and maintaining high quality habitat for endangered or threatened species. The concept is similar to the trading of carbon credits by large industries to reduce pollution.

Colorado has mostly species of wildlife that are threatened species or species of special concern to the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) that may eventually increase impact on state livestock producers, according to Terry Fankhauser, CCA executive vice president.

Several species of sage grouse, for example, have been listed by CDOW as of concern, while the plains sharp-tailed grouse has been listed as endangered, by the state.

Three separate petitions for listing the greater sage grouse as threatened or endangered, in the state were submitted in 2002 and 2003. And a 12-month finding by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was negative. However, the USFWS did say that conservation on behalf of this species must continue.

"The largest populations of these grouse exist in the northwest part of the state, in Moffat, Grand and Jackson counties," Fankhauser said. "Although they are found at elevations of 6,000 to 8,500 feet, they are not forest birds and prefer relatively open sagebrush flats or rolling sagebrush hills. For that reason, cattle ranchers and other livestock producers are concerned about them in the state."

Touring Texas model

A group of Colorado landowners, elected officials, as well as officials from CCA, the Colorado Department of Agriculture, CDOW and Colorado State University, made a trip to Texas in September to view what the delegation considered to be a successful RCS program, created by the Central Texas Cattlemen's Association. They met with Fort Hood, Texas A&M University and Texas government agency officials involved in the program.

"We came away encouraged about the cooperative nature of the effort and the possible applications to Colorado, including protection of the state's threatened and endangered species and their habitats, as well as assistance to the landowners who make their living from the land," Fankhauser said.

The Texas RCS has just completed the first year of a three-year "proof of concept" in working toward protection and expansion of habitat for the golden-cheeked warbler. It is being financed through the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Army's Fort Hood military installation, on which habitats for the golden-cheeked warbler have been found.

"The Texas Recovery Credit System is modeled after the Conservation Reserve Program, whereby landowners voluntarily participate in a conservation program in return for technical guidance," Fankhauser said.

"Fort Hood purchases 'credits' for helping preserve warbler habitat on land outside of its borders, giving the installation flexibility in future training on its land," Fankhauser said. "There are fixed-term performance contracts and habitat conservation incentives for landowners."

RCS components

Components of the RCS include:

--A habitat management program, which provides management planning and cost-share for habitat management;

--A habitat crediting program, which provides annual payments for securing suitable habitat in a market-based system that considers landscape context and distribution for meeting the overall recovery goals;

--Landscape-level management for habitat and ecosystem improvements; and

--A monitoring system, which provides effectiveness and validation monitoring and a decision-support for adjusting the program.

To qualify for participation in the Texas RCS, a landowner must meet the following criteria:

--The property must be properly located in the area of interest for the project;

--The property must contain suitable golden-cheeked warbler habitat that meets or exceeds the standards of the RCS;

--The landowner must enroll for a minimum of 10 years; and

--The owner must we willing to allow monitoring by Texas A&M University or the university's designee, for the term of the contract.

Landowner contracts are entered into after a site assessment of the proposed land, a confidential management plan for habitat enhancement and a bid by the landowner for proposed management practices and timeline. Payment is made for habitat conservation practices with annual payments for the term of the contract. Monitoring of management is also conducted.

Each property contracted is divided into conservation units, with 20 acres of suitable habitat constituting one unit. Contracts are written on properties (or a combination of properties) that contain a minimum of 50 acres, which must sit on 250 acres of continuous habitat. These 50-acre "priority landscapes" are described as integral pieces of the 250-acre block of suitable golden-cheeked warbler habitat.

Properties are ranked, with increased credit for multiple conservation units, recovery regions, proximity to known populations and surrounding habitat. All of these weigh on the value of property credits to Fort Hood, as well as to the value of the contract to the landowner.

Maintaining land use

"The conservation benefits of the program are many," Fankhauser said. "It secures habitat across a wider geographic area to offset impact of involvement with the ESA on their operations. The Fort Hood people are the most excited about this because it will help them expand their training area."

The goal is to see an overall net gain in suitable habitat for the species of concern, as well as an increased knowledge of species distribution, abundance and habitat relationships to assist in management decisions. Another benefit is the restoration of important rangeland ecosystems private lands.

"The most important thing is that it helps maintain rural land use," Fankhauser said.

One of the most important issues about the contracts is their confidentiality. The Texas RCS funding process helps protect the confidentiality of participants, as does a Texas confidentiality law passed in 1995. General data can be made available, but not in such a way that it can be traced to an individual landowner. In addition, a confidentiality agreement is signed, as part of the contract.

"The confidentiality agreements are in place so that mischief can't be made with this data," Fankhauser said. "This builds trust. Also, the only people who go onto the property to do the monitoring are Texas A&M and Texas Watershed Management Foundation people. This, again, builds trust and confidence in the program."

"The sky's the limit"

An RCS for Colorado, Fankhauser said, would offer "the sky's the limit" in terms of business benefits, as it would offset whatever impacts species habitats present. It would also offer operational certainty for a number of Colorado industries and create a long-term benefit of having species delisted, through recovery or not being ever listed at all.

"Rather than a restrictive practice, it's an incentive approach. It can help us alleviate a lot of conflict and get away from further regulation, lawsuits and legislation," Fankhauser said. "The goal is to have enough offsets so there won't be any endangered species in Colorado.

"This will work for the oil and gas industry, additional government agencies, such as the Department of Transportation, and private businesses such as land developers or timber harvesters. A lot of different entities may be interested in participating in this kind of program."

The path to implementing an RCS in Colorado, Fankhauser said, will start with a survey of landowners, industry and government.

"The take home question here is, are you willing to participate? Once that is determined, if there's enough interest, we'll have to implement a course of fundraising."

Once a funding a source is found, CCA will work with stakeholders to move the concept forward into development of pilot projects. This includes working with state and federal agencies on assurances that contracts will be honored and then determining a structure for a Colorado RCS.

"There will more people interested in this than are in Texas because of our higher amount of public lands, but we have to work with them," Fankhauser said. "We want to work with them."

One of those who thought the RCS was a good idea, after seeing it in Texas, was T. Wright Dickinson, a CCA board member from Moffat County. Dickinson said Colorado producers could take this home and apply it to their own endangered species issues, such as spotted owls or prairie chickens or piping plovers.

"There are different applications for different communities. But, offering programs such as the RCS, it will contribute additional revenue sources for ranchers and gives an incentive for these other entities to play."

Larry Dreiling can be reached by phone at 785-628-1117 or by e-mail at ldreiling@aol.com.

12/17/07
3 Star CO\15-B

Date: 12/13/07

	Web hpj.com

Copyright/Privacy
Copyright 1995-2008.  High Plains Publishers, Inc.  All rights reserved.  Any republishing of these pages, including electronic reproduction of the editorial archives or classified advertising, is strictly prohibited. If you have questions or comments you can reach us at High Plains Journal 1500 E. Wyatt Earp Blvd., P.O. Box 760, Dodge City, KS 67801 or call 1-800-452-7171. Email: webmaster@hpj.com