[BCNnet] Audubon Advisory - blackbird poisoning and CRP's

[Judy Pollock]

Here are updates on two issues of local concern.  The CRP program in
particular is thought to be the reason for our recent surge in Henslow's
sparrows.

>AUDUBON ADVISORY 
>Audubon's Twice-Monthly Update From Washington, D.C.
>Wednesday, November 21, 2001
>(Vol. 2001, Issue 23)
>
>HELP STOP THE POISONING OF RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS
>
>The U.S. Department of Agriculture is proposing to kill by poison 2 million
>blackbirds a year for three years starting in the Spring of 2002. The
>poisoning threatens to kill numerous other birds including the steeply
>declining populations of grassland songbirds. The Department is conducting
>the blackbird poisoning in an effort to reduce sunflower crop damage in the
>Northern Plains.
>
>Red-wing black birds migrate through the Dakotas in the spring and fall. The
>total flock is estimated to be as many as 40 million birds. During the fall
>migrating blackbirds are attracted to ripening sunflowers grown in North and
>South Dakota. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health
>Inspection Service (APHIS) has proposed a poisoning program aimed at
>reducing blackbird populations to provide protection for sunflower growers.
>APHIS poisoned several million blackbirds between 1994 and 1999. Audubon
>opposed the poisoning program in 2000. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
>blocked the poisoning program both in 2000 and 2001.
>
>Audubon opposes the blackbird-poisoning program because it cannot be
>justified on economic or scientific grounds. APHIS's own studies have not
>shown that killing large numbers of red-wing blackbirds is effective in
>reducing damage to sunflower crops. Blackbirds are estimated to damage about
>one to two percent of the $300 million annual production of sunflowers.
>
>There is no scientific evidence that the blackbird-poisoning program is
>effective. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has stated that APHIS has
>ignored their own research in proving the poisoning has been ineffective in
>controlling blackbirds. APHIS does not even know if the blackbirds they are
>attempting to kill in the spring are the blackbirds eating the sunflower
>seeds in the fall!
>
>Grassland songbirds have experienced dramatic declines in the past decade.
>APHIS has not shown that other bird species are not eating the poison
>banquets laid out for the blackbirds. Indeed, 69 other bird species have
>been observed around the poison rice plots. These include bird species of
>federal concern and birds on Audubon's watchlist. Some of these birds are:

>Baird's sparrow, Le Conte's sparrow, and the bobolink.
>
>The blackbird poisoning program is opposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
>Service, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, the South Dakota
>Department of Game, Fish, and Parks, Audubon Dakota, and National Audubon.
>
>WE NEED YOUR HELP TO STOP THIS PROGRAM!
>Please contact Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman and urge her to end the
>poisoning of red-winged blackbirds in North and South Dakota! Click this
>link to send your fax or e-mail today
>http://www.capitolconnect.com/audubon/contact/default.asp?subject=41

>MEANWHILE, THE CONSERVATION PORTION 
>OF THE FARM BILL
>
>Now that we know the pro-drillers will try to attach Arctic drilling
>provisions to the farm bill, here's the skinny on the farm bill itself:  on
>November 15, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed a sweeping Farm bill
>that contains a number of conservation programs that will directly impact
>birds, other wildlife and their habitat. 
>
>As you know, every five years, the U.S. Congress sets policies, guidelines,
>and secures funding for agriculture programs, all of which and more are
>included in an enormous legislative package referred to as the Farm Bill.
>The House passed their version earlier in the year, and now it's the
>Senate's turn. Originally scheduled to be debated in 2002, both chambers are
>hoping to push this legislation through so as not to be penalized by
>potential funding cuts in 2002. As agriculture practices directly and
>indirectly affect the environment, including birds, wildlife and humans,
>Audubon weighs in on the farm bill in an effort to enhance and expand its
>conservation programs. Two notable conservation programs are the  Wetlands
>Reserve Program (WRP) and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP.)  Both of
>these programs offer farmers financial incentives to take farmland -
>specifically wetlands -- out of production to preserve these lands or return
>them into habitat for birds and wildlife who count on them for survival.
>Audubon is also supporting a Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP)to protect the
>vanishing habitat for grassland songbirds and other wildlife.  Audubon
>supports increases to two critical programs that enables working farmers to
>enhance and preserve important habitat for birds and wildlife while keeping
>their lands in production, the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP)
>and the Farmland Protection Program (FPP).
>
>While the Senate Committee passed bill has sufficient funding for WRP, it
>does not provide adequate funding for all of the other important programs
>such as CRP, WHIP and FPP to sufficiently address the conservation
>challenges facing America's farmers in protecting important habitat for
>migratory birds, including grassland songbirds like the bobolink, and other
>wildlife.   The majority of new spending in the Committee-passed farm bill
>would go to the commodities programs, rather than important programs for
>birds and wildlife. 
>
>But there is an alternative!  Senator Reid (D-NV) and Senator Leahy (D-VT)
>have introduced the Conservation Assistance & Regional Equity Act of 2001.
>Their bill provides a real opportunity to stop the loss of valuable bird and
>wildlife habitat by giving farmers the financial assistance they need to
>preserve their farms.  Conservation programs invest in our farm communities,
>working farms and bird and wildlife protection.  Funding farmland protection
>ensures that farmers have the means to protect working farms from the threat

>of urban sprawl.  For example, some of America's most rapidly declining
>songbirds - grassland songbirds - would benefit from these conservation
>programs, including Baird's sparrow and the above mentioned bobolink.
>That's why we're urging Members of the Senate to support the Reid-Leahy farm
>proposal. And you can help!  Please contact your two U.S. Senators and urge
>them to support the Reid-Leahy Conservation Assistance and Regional Equity
>Act of 2001 for this year's Farm Bill!
>