Chapter III

STEWARDSHIP OF THE LAND

As an organization rooted in rural America, the Izaak Walton League has long recognized the rights and stewardship responsibilities of private landowners. Early League policy in this area dealt with topics such as soil conservation, watershed protection, and wildlife habitat management. Rapid growth and suburban sprawl through the 1950s and 1960s led the League to advance the Land Use Planning Act in the early 1970s. That measure, had it passed, would have provided federal incentives for state leadership in land-use planning. In the 1980s, the League turned its attention back to agricultural policy, playing an influential role in the enactment of the 1985 Farm Act, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Sodbuster, Conservation Compliance, and Swampbuster. In the 1990 Farm Bill, the League was instrumental in protecting wetlands and water quality and promoting sustainable farming practices. In 1996 and 2002, the League played a key role in the reauthorization of CRP. Today, the League continues to seek ways of protecting both the public resource values associated with private lands and the rights of private land ownership.

• A) Principles
  • 1) The public interest requires that all capabilities of each acre of land should be considered in planning for its use. The public and future generations have a valid interest in the resource capabilities and potentials of private lands, and government therefore should work cooperatively with private landowners to secure sound management of those resources.
  • 2) Through cost-sharing, property tax relief, technical assistance, extension education programs, and demonstration projects, states should encourage rural landowners to set aside, conserve, and improve wildlife habitats.
  • 3) With few exceptions, intensive development—especially public facilities such as highways, sewers, and water impoundments—do not belong in public forests and recreation areas, critical fish and wildlife habitat areas, flood plains, wetlands, steep slopes, erosive soils, unique natural areas, and other environmentally fragile areas.
  • 4) No public funds, loan guarantees, subsidies, or other assistance should be made available for intensive development of land or water that would jeopardize environmental values of major public interest.
  • 5) Preservation of cultural values and the local economy should be considered along with environmental factors in land-use planning.
  • 6) The League opposes “takings” bills that undermine private property rights and public health, safety, and other laws.
• B) Federal Role in Private Land Management
  • 1) The federal government should provide private owners with guidance and incentives to encourage wise management of soils, forests, wetlands, and other land resources.
  • 2) The federal government should encourage states to build effective land-use planning and information programs.
  • 3) The federal government should recognize the national interest in preserving and protecting large and important landscape units that are mostly in private ownership. The federal government should help to protect such nationally significant landscapes when the task is beyond the capabilities of local or state governments acting alone. Protection mechanisms should respect traditional uses of the land and the rights of those who have been its faithful stewards. Such mechanisms should be flexible and emphasize public-private cooperation and voluntary action by landowners. The League supports testing an array of mechanisms including tax incentives, designation of nationally significant areas, special intergovernmental planning districts, review of proposed federal expenditures and actions for consistency with landscape protection goals, federal cooperation with state and local governments in acquiring easements or development rights, and special loans or grants to assist compatible commercial uses of the land.
• C) Cultural Heritage Areas
  • 1) The League supports the establishment of a national heritage program that would:
    • a) Identify sites, artifacts, and areas most significant to America’s natural and cultural heritage.
    • b) Recognize the central role of states in heritage protection.
    • c) Encourage voluntary cooperation in preserving heritage values while assuming purchase of critical natural areas, where necessary.
    • d) Establish a national register of natural areas.
    • e) Protect identified heritage areas from adverse federal actions.
• D) Conservation Easements
  • 1) Federal income and inheritance tax laws should be tailored to encourage private landowners to donate easements or other partial rights in land to protect public values identified by government at any level. Tax laws should assure that tax benefits from such donations are available to all potential donors. Provision should be made for:
    • a) Appraisal policies that are fair and reduce donor expense and uncertainty.
    • b) Long-term spreading of deductions.
    • c) Availability of tax credits, rather than deductions, as a donor option.
    • d) Elimination of estate taxes to help permit agricultural and forested lands to be passed from generation to generation.
• E) Agricultural Conservation
  • 1) Federal farm policy should have as a priority the responsible stewardship of our nation’s farmlands, and specifically:
    • a) Retain, improve, and fully implement USDA conservation programs accommodating regional distinctions in cooperation and consultation with state wildlife agencies and other entities.
    • b) Sodbuster and Conservation Compliance.
    • c) Advance environmentally sound farming by replacing existing commodity program subsidies with programs that strengthen conservation and stewardship incentives.
    • d) Target incentives to independent, family-sized operations and those now excluded from farm programs to encourage crop diversification and the use of environmentally sound farming practices.
    • e) Support a water quality incentive program and National Buffer Strip Initiative
    • f) Support the USDA Forest Stewardship Program and Stewardship Incentives Program.
  • 2) The League recommends that all state legislatures provide funds for the implementation of the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program.
  • 3) The League supports federal and state measures to slow conversion of farmlands to non-agricultural uses and to preserve high-quality agricultural lands. The League also urges:
    • a) Limiting public investments that stimulate conversion of agricultural lands to other uses, including public projects such as sewer, road, energy, or water resource projects.
    • b) Reviewing federal and state actions to determine whether they are consistent with preserving prime farmlands.
    • c) Revising tax-code provisions that encourage conversion of agricultural lands, and that agricultural land, where qualified conservation practices have been applied and maintained to prevent soil erosion, protect water quality, and enhance fish and wildlife habitat, be defined as land devoted exclusively to agricultural use and so recognized by taxation authorities.
    • d) Providing technical and financial assistance to state, local, and regional efforts to protect important farmlands through agricultural conservancy districts, preferential taxation, purchase of development rights on key tracts, and strict agricultural zoning.
    • e) Enactment of measures necessary to ensure that livestock confinement facilities are sited, operated, and monitored in ways that adequately protect water, soil, and other areas of the environment, and that local governments can enact control measures more restrictive than federal laws, provided they do not violate constitutional rights.
    • f) Support for research about modifying the feed of livestock as one method of reducing excess nutrients in manure.
    • g) “Whole farm” planning as the basis for long-term protection of natural resources on agricultural land.
  • 4) Despite 50 years of conservation efforts, there remains an overwhelming need to improve our stewardship of soil, water, forest, wildlife, and other resources. The League has long supported a range of rural conservation programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and state agencies that provide technical and financial assistance to private landowners, such as the Conservation Reserve Program, the Wetlands Reserve Program, the Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program, and the Water Quality Incentives Program. The League also supports adequate funding of the Natural Resources Conservation Service to maintain and expand existing conservation programs.
  • 5) Federal conservation programs should:
    • a) Target lands with the most critical water quality and erosion problems.
    • b) Emphasize long-term soil conservation improvements rather than agricultural production.
    • c) Direct support toward small landowners rather than large economic interests to most effectively improve the quality of rural life and the rural environment.
    • d) Expand government-sponsored research and the development of agricultural techniques and crop types that minimize erosion problems, reduce dependence on pesticides, and otherwise enhance habitat for fish and wildlife while protecting water quality, soil, and the health and safety of farmers and the public.
    • e) Assist landowners in safely controlling noxious plants that overtake pastures and forests.
  • 6) The League supports the development of agricultural systems that sustain both natural resources and people. Policies and rules in commodity, tax, and other farm-related programs that work against conservation and sustainable agriculture should be changed. Incentives and cost-sharing arrangements should be provided for sustainable farming systems that work in concert with nature and are designed to produce quality food, protect human health, enhance opportunities in farming, and strengthen farm communities. Funding should be provided for education, research, and extension.
  • 7) Government policies should not encourage or subsidize crop production on the country’s environmentally sensitive lands, such as wetlands and virgin prairies, or on highly erodible grasslands and woodlands. Public funds should not be used to support crop production on highly erodible cropland unless the landowner is implementing an approved conservation plan designed to keep erosion below levels that jeopardize the soil’s long-term productivity Sugar quotas and price protection should end.
  • 8) The League urges local, state, and federal governments to prevent the further pollution of groundwaters. Promoting farming methods that use fewer agricultural chemicals, including integrated pest management programs, would help. Applications of fertilizers and pesticides via irrigation systems should not be used without antibackflow valves or when any possibility exists for contaminating underground aquifers.
• F) Private Woodlands
  • 1) The League recognizes that private woodlands must provide a major share of the nation’s long-term needs for timber, pulp, and other forest products. All states should have laws encouraging high standards of forest management. Federal and state forestry agencies should provide information and assistance to improve productivity of privately owned forests and woodlots. Forestry assistance programs should emphasize all the resources of private woodlands— including watershed, wildlife, and recreation values—and not focus solely on timber production. Congress should substantially increase annual appropriations for the Forest Legacy Program to make nonindustrial private woodland conservation efforts more effective.
  • 2) With nearly three-fourths of our woodlands privately owned, public programs are needed to help landowners better manage private forests by:
    • a) Helping landowners develop land-management plans before timber is harvested.
    • b) Reforesting cutover lands and planting trees on eroding pastureland, when suitable.
    • c) Better integrating federal, state, local, and private forestry efforts.
    • d) Expanding incentives for forestation in federal farm programs.
    • e) Stimulating investments from state and private landowners.
  • 3) Limiting federal financial and tax incentives to benefit only those landowners who are managing their lands in accordance with locally approved plans that consider forestation, enhance fish and wildlife habitat, and protect water quality, soil, and wetlands.
• G) Grasslands and Prairies
  • 1) Grassland and prairie ecosystems are disappearing from the United States at an alarming rate. The vast majority of remaining grasslands and prairie that could be restored are held in private ownership. Existing incentive programs, such as those provided in the Farm Bill, are not effective in dealing with this decline. The League supports development of programs to compensate private landowners for preserving or restoring grasslands and the associated wildlife and endangered species, without bias of only enrolling agricultural production land. The programs should:
    • a) Consider wildlife habitat, watershed protection, and grassland preservation.
    • b) Cover most, if not all, of the input costs.
    • c) Be voluntary, but recognize the need for special management of some wildlife and plants.
    • d) Provide additional compensation or preference when endangered species protection is provided.
    • e) Allow the USDA Farm Service Agency to reduce payments to producers who use poor management practices.
• H) Confined Animal Feedlot Operations
  • 1) The League urges states to establish a moratorium on new concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) so that water and air quality studies, land-use studies and studies, on manure distribution, utilization, and application can be completed and evaluated.
  • 2) The League recommends measures necessary to ensure that livestock confinement facilities are operated in ways that adequately protect the environment and quality of life by:
    • a) Urging local, state, and federal governments to enact measures holding all parties with operational control of a facility responsible for management of the facility, and holding them jointly liable for environmental damages incurred by the operation of that facility.
    • b) Urging Congress and other governing and permitting bodies to enact measures requiring the co-permitting and joint liability of the agriculture corporation invested in a confinement facility and the owners and operators of the facility.
• I) Modified and Organic Foods
  • 1) Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have become increasingly significant as a food source and could threaten the biodiversity of global ecosystems, local habitats, and the gene pools of organisms. Demand for labeling of these altered products is increasing. Production of sterile hybrid seed threatens existing seed-saving practices. Given that many uncertainties exist about GMOs and their impacts on the environment, the League urges that:
    • a) An independent federal Council on Genetically Modified Organisms be established.
    • b) This independent, nonpartisan council shall establish technical guidance for assessing current and proposed technology, ecological issues, consumer concerns, and organic agriculture and wildlife issues as part of a comprehensive, pre-market approval system that promotes sustainability and provides oversight to regulatory entities dealing with GMOs.
    • c) The scientific community studies and evaluates the long-term effects of GMOs.
    • d) Consumers are informed of what is being consumed through required labeling, and that they have the right to naturally produced foods.
  • 2) The widespread use of antibiotics in the production of livestock raises concerns about development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains when these are used for both livestock and humans. The League supports federal legislation to help prevent the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria by forbidding use of antibiotics in livestock as growth promoters or for disease prevention, except those for which studies have demonstrated that there is no harm to human health due to development of resistant strains.
  • 3) The production and marketing of food for human consumption without the use of chemicals or artificial preservatives has grown in recent years, as well as consumer confidence in and demand for these “organically produced” products. The League opposes any attempt by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to modify established “organic” food certification standards by authorizing irradiation, fertilization by sludges, and other additives and chemical applications in food production or processing.
• J) Mining
  • 1) All mining should be subject to controls that protect otherresource values—particularly the quality of surface and subsurfacewaters.
  • 2) When any mining operation ceases, the mine should be sealed orreclaimed so as to prevent land slippage, subsidence, pollution ofsurface and subsurface waters, and other environmental impairment.
  • 3) Mining should be prohibited unless it can be assured that radioactiveor other hazardous substances will not enter the environment.
  • 4) The Mining Law of 1872 should be replaced with a mineral leasingsystem that no longer will allow mining interests to gain ownershiprights to the surface.
• K) Strip Mine Controls
  • 1) The League supports strip mine regulations that:
    • a) Prohibit mining on steep slopes and other environmentallyfragile or aesthetically important areas.
    • b) Require returning the mined area to approximate original contour.
    • c) Require that reclamation be kept current with mining.
    • d) Assure that all mining operations, including construction ofaccess roads, are conducted so as to protect water, land, otherresources and social values.
    • e) Require that re-vegetation be demonstrated successfully priorto release of bonds.
    • f) Require that the mined area be reclaimed to the extent that itcan be put to useful purpose, or that pre-mining conditions aresubstantially restored.
    • g) Prohibit issuance of strip mine permits to parties who, under any name, have failed to meet strip mining requirements duringprevious mining operations.
  • 2) Environmental damage from cyanide “heap-leach” techniques formining gold and silver ores should be limited by:
    • a) Restricting them to valid, existing permits.
    • b) Prohibiting any contamination of surface or subsurface waters.
    • c) Requiring restoration of mine and mill sites to original contour,vegetation, and productivity.
  • 3) Abandoned mines should be restored, and surface and subsurfacewaters should be protected from acid or toxic mine drainage. Ingeneral, reclamation should be financed by the mining industry, asis done for coal through the federal Abandoned Mine ReclamationFund. Reclamation efforts should be accelerated and focused oncontrolling mine drainage.
  • 4) Congress should increase appropriations from the AbandonedMine Reclamation, including from the unappropriated balance, inorder to expedite abandoned mine reclamation efforts.
  • 5) The practice known as mountaintop removal and valley fill isgrowing and resulting in permanent damage to, and loss, of forestand headwater streams, especially in the Appalachian Mountains.The League strongly urges that no variances or waivers to existingstream buffer zone requirements of the Surface Mining Controland Reclamation Act be granted by state and federal agencies forvalley fills associated with mountaintop removal mining.
• L) Uranium Mining
  • 1) The League finds that uranium mining by means of injection wellsposes a grave threat to groundwater and should be prohibitedwherever groundwater is a prime source of water for irrigation orhuman consumption.
  • 2) No new uranium mines should be located in populated areas untiltoxic mine tailings can be isolated successfully from the environmentand the public.
  • 3) In the eastern United States and other “net-precipitation” regions,uranium mining and milling should be regulated stringently andheld to a standard of zero discharge of effluent to or surface orsubsurface waters.
• M) Phosphate Mining
  • 1) Phosphate mining in the United States, as it is currently conducted,destroys important wetland resources, jeopardizes water supplies,and threatens to exhaust U.S. phosphate reserves.
  • 2) The League supports a federal policy on phosphate mining andexport that would control:
    • a) The sequence of phosphate mining—including planning,removal and reclamation.
    • b) The amounts of phosphate exported.
    • c) The development of technology to recover phosphates fromsewage and solid wastes.
• N) Seabed Mining
  • 1) The League has opposed seabed strip mining for non-energy minerals.Offshore leasing for such minerals should not be permitted unless:
    • a) Site-specific scientific research has shown minimal environmentalrisks.
    • b) The minerals are economically recoverable or essential fordefense.
    • c) The site is very low in biological productivity or sensitivity.
    • d) Leasing is consistent with state coastal zone plans.