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Federal Nonregulatory Programs
- The North American Waterfowl Management Plan was signed in 1986 by the Canadian and U.S. governments. Mexico also has
signed an agreement to assist in this effort. The plan's goal is to preserve six million acres of wetlands and to increase North America's waterfowl population to more than 100 million
birds by the year 2000. Partnerships of public and private organizations work toward the goal of wetland preservation by purchasing or leasing wetlands or using conservation easements.
Farm owners are provided economic incentives to strengthen wildlife habitats. The playa lakes of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado, and wetlands on the Gulf Coast
stretching from Texas to Alabama are joint ventures targeted under this program.
- The Wetlands Reserve Program established first in the 1985 Farm Bill offers landowners payments for restoring and
protecting wetlands on their property. The program, though altered, was reauthorized in the 2002 Farm Bill. Under the program, landowners voluntarily sell permanent easements or a
thirty-year easement of wetland acreage to the USDA in return for a set land payment and financial assistance to the landowner for wetland restoration activities. The goal of the program
is to restore 950,000 acres nationally by the year 2002. For landowners who sell permanent easements, the land payment equals no more than the agricultural appraisal of the land, and the
USDA pays for all the restoration cost. For landowners who sell a thirty-year easement, the USDA provides 75 percent of the restoration cost. In 2002, 52 Texas landowners had enrolled 43,
475 acres in the program.*
- The 1996 Farm Bill established a new program entitled the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program. From 1996 through 2002, $50
million has been appropriated to assist landowners around the country with wildlife protection and conservation activities. The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service in Temple
administers the program in Texas. The program targets wildlife-habitat restoration activities, including restoration of prairies, savannas, wetlands, riparian and aquatic habitats. In
2002, Texas landowners had 32,801 acres of upland habitat, 600 acres of riparians habitat and 7 acres of wetlands in the program.
- The Farm Bill's Conservation Reserve Program is a voluntary cost-share program whereby landowners enter into 10 or 15 year
contracts with USDA to
take highly erodible cropland and other environmentally sensitive lands out of production. Enhancement of wildlife habitat is one of the criteria used to determine eligibility. In 2002, over 4 million acres in Texas were under CRP contracts.
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas Parks and Wildllife Department, USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, and
Ducks Unlimited created the Texas Prairie Wetlands Project to provide technical assistance and financial incentives to farmers and ranchers interested in improving or restoring wetland
habitats along the Gulf Coast. *
- In 1991, the Texas legislature enacted a bill that added wildlife management to the list of agricultural uses that
qualified otherwise taxable open land for special appraisal valuation for property tax purposes. To qualify for this wildlife management use, land must be qualified for agricultural
appraisal or open-space agricultural appraisal at the time the owner changes its use to wildlife management. Land qualified for timber appraisal is not eligible to qualify for wildlife
management use.*
State Non-Regulatory Programs
- Since 1976, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists through the agency's Private Lands Enhancement Program have
provided technical assistance and, in some cases, cost-share assistance, to private landowners who want to enhance, conserve, or develop wildlife habitat, including wetlands, brushlands,
and prairies.
- In 1996 the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department established the Landowner Incentive Program, the first program in the
United States to provide landowners with grants up to $10,000 to help conserve state or federally listed threatened or endangered species as well as selected vertebrates, invertebrates,
and plants. A $100,000 annual budget is dedicated to this program The first $10,000 grant was given to a Lubbock area farmer to help him restore prairie habitat and plant maize for the
endangered lesser prairie chicken. The agency anticipates funding 10 to 12 grants a year
- One hundred and twentyt-one Texas cooperatives (also known as management associations) totaling approximately 1.75 million
acres are registered with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Private Lands and Habitat Branch. Under wildlife management co-ops and/or associations, neighboring landowners voluntarily
agree to work together to enhance or restore habitat for wildlife. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologist are available to assist the landowners, but TPWD does not play a
regulatory role. The co-ops tend to focus on the species that are specific to their region. For example, landowners in the Rolling Plains want to enhance habitat for quails, landowenrs
in other regions want to focus on white-tail deer.
- There are 50 wildlife management aeas in Texas totaling approximately 14.5 milliona acres.
The sites are part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's State Park system and are located in various regions of the state. They are used for research as well as public hunting and public recreation.
Private not-for profit organizations have also been instrumental in saving habitat through incentives
programs.
- In 1999, the Environmental Defense office in Texas launched a Landowner Conservation Assistance Program (LCAP) to support
land management activities that create, restor and enchance wildlife habitats for the Golden -cheeked Warbler and the Black-capped Vireo. These two endangered songbirds' primary habitats
are in the Hill Country. The LCAP provides both financial and technical assistance to landowners that are interested in promoting the habitats of these two endangered species. Forty-two
Hill Country landowners and 76,000 acres of habitat are enrolled in the program.
Environmental Defense has expanded the program to include the endangered Ocelot whose primary habitat is in South Texas.
- There are 34 non-profit land trusts in Texas conserving approximately 307,717 acres. This includes 156,226 under
conservation easments, 109,484 acres owned by the land trusts, and 42,007 acres conserved through some other type of conservation approach.
- The Nature Conservancy of Texas, a not-for-profit organization and land trust that helps preserve significant natural
areas, has been working in Texas since 1966.The Conservancy identifies acreage that needs to be protected and then preserves the land through gift, lease, trade, or purchase. The
organization also works with private landowners who want to manage land for conservation purposes. *
- The Conservation Fund, a not-for-profit organization, has protected over 90,000 acres in Texas, including 20,000
acres in the Rio Grande Valley, 3,900 acres of critical dunes and wetlands along the cost, and 50,000 acres in the Fort Davis area. The Fund is working towards protecting towards protecting 33,000 acres of bottomland hardwood and longleaf forest along the Neches River.
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FYI
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Texas cities such as San Antonio, Corpus Christi, McAllen, and Austin are using
their wastewater treatment facilities to provide habitat for birds.
The outdoor treatment facilities use grasses and vegetation to filter and purify the wastewater and, in turn, birds are able to use the facilities as watering holes.
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Texas cities such as Georgetown, Austin and San Antonio have
initiated major habitat acquisition programs using either bond programs or sales tax dollars.. |
