Robbing Peter To Pay Paul When It Comes To Waterfowl
February 13, 2008
The Bush administration is pushing to raise the cost of a duck stamp from $15 to $25 the first increase in almost 20 years. In case you don’t know duck stamps are a federal issued stamp that hunters must have to hunt migratory birds each year with the funds being used to safe guard habitat for the birds and other species. Hunters have happily bore the vast responsibility for monies generated through this program and I suspect this will continue.
I’m not opposed to raising the costs I’m just concern with the politics that have gotten us to the need to raise the costs. Many acres of farmland over the years have been set aside in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) that has put aside land for wildlife habitat. Efforts by the Bush administration to boost ethanol production have basically destroyed the CRP by raising the price of corn to a level that has put lots of habitat land back into crop production. Not to mention the impact on our own food production.
Habitat land is now more expensive because what would have not been cost productive to plant now is. When we have all kinds of untapped oil reserves in Alaska and off our coasts that we won’t touch because of the “impact on nature” so will destroy habitat and our economy to create a much more costly fuel.
I’ll buy the stamp but at the rate we are going the additional $10 won’t be enough.
Moose Droppings is a place that chronicles my journey, Ill explore new places and ideas Ill learn new things and Ill teach the things Ive learned to others. Join me on the adventure and hopefully it will help you in your outdoor endeavors.
I agree with you Moose. We are now engaged in an epic battle to fight for the things we believe in and for the wildlife and habitat that we all love so dearly. When I started this entire project of writing and creating, I believed that I could just stand around and talk about habitat and conservation and stay out of the political fray. I was deeply wrong. I now know that we are all going to have to stand up and fight very hard for the passions, the traditions, the land and the animals that we all so deeply love and care about. Our fights are no longer just about our small little worlds and our favorite 100 acre woods either they are about the entire world and how our conservation model and our traditions effect that world. WE HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO!
Moose, has anyone calculated just how much incremental revenue the $10 increase will generate? Is the money earmarked for any particular projects or will it just go into the general fund? Like you, I’m not generally opposed to the increase, but I would like to know what it’s goal is.
This is a tricky one, Moose.
The loss of CRP lands is gonna hurt, but at the same time there has to be the realization that we can’t keep depending on a non-renewable resouce (oil). It’s pretty generally recognized by the experts on both sides of the coin that drilling the Arctic will only benefit for the short run…it’s not the end-all be-all…. more like wiping out your retirement fund to pay off your credit cards.
If the additional $10 for a duck stamp is gonna help offset some of the losses we’re experiencing, then I have to support it…even as I realize that you’re right, it’s likely gonna take a lot more than an extra few million dollars to keep some of those lands from converting back to crops. It is a big jump, though… but we’re seeing that all over the place lately. Heck, look what it takes to send a stupid letter these days.
In reply to Mike Weekes’s question, money raised from the sale of the Federal Waterfowl Stamps MUST be earmarked for waterfowl management (Migratory Bird Conservation Fund), and is supposed to be untouchable by other programs. Technically and legally, the money should never go to the “General Fund”.