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Keystone Dialogue 
Emphasizes Species Recovery and Landowner Incentives

Statement By Rodger Schlickeisen, President of Defenders of Wildlife 
and Board Member of the Keystone Center

The Keystone Center, responding to a bipartisan request from six U.S. senators, has just released its preliminary report on the findings and recommendations of the dialogue on wildlife habitat issues important to the proper functioning of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

"When the six senators asked a diverse group of industry and conservation organizations, including Defenders of Wildlife, to engage in a dialogue on how to better protect habitat under the ESA, they did so not knowing whether the participants could agree on anything regarding this hugely important but controversial subject. Moreover, with the narrow passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of the extremist bill sponsored by Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), which would severely undermine the Endangered Species Act, finding common ground among the Keystone participants was made even more problematic. Still, the group was able to produce some important areas of agreement.

First, and perhaps most important, participants from industry and conservation groups agreed on the importance of protecting habitat to successfully recover endangered species. In fact, there was agreement that the ESA could do an even better job of protecting habitat than it does today. While the participants did not agree on whether critical habitat as now defined in the law should be replaced, they did agree that any provisions to replace critical habitat must enhance species recovery and make the law more workable for those required to comply with it.

This is in sharp contrast to the Pombo bill, which would eliminate current protections for habitat without providing adequate alternative protection of habitat necessary for recovery.

The Keystone participants recommended a number of incentives to encourage private landowners to better conserve endangered wildlife. These include enhancing three measures found in the Farm Bill to encourage farmers and ranchers to be good stewards of our nation’s wildlife. Ironically, the Bush administration put all three programs on the chopping block in the 2007 budget (the Conservation Reserve Program, 8% cut; the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, 21% cut; and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, 35% cut).

The landowner incentives recommended by the Keystone participants contrast sharply with the Pombo bill, which would require taxpayers to pay developers not to kill or injure endangered wildlife, setting no limits on these payments.

In the few short months that our diverse groups participated in the Keystone dialogue, two things were made abundantly clear. First, the Pombo bill is not the answer to ensuring the recovery of endangered wildlife or providing effective conservation incentives for landowners. Second, changing the Endangered Species Act to meet the needs of our nation’s wildlife and those responsible for complying with the law is a very complex issue and will require very careful consideration by the Senate before any legislation amending the current ESA can be proposed. The Keystone dialogue has made very valuable contributions to the debate on the ESA: by elucidating the complex issues involved in making the law serve all stakeholders better, underscoring the wrongheaded approach of the Pombo bill, and setting forth a number of valuable ideas that can help shape further careful consideration by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee of how to reauthorize this landmark law."

Defenders of Wildlife was one of 24 organizations including conservation and industry groups that participated in the Keystone ESA Working Group on Habitat. The working group was challenged by six U.S. senators to analyze the habitat protections provided to endangered wildlife in the current Endangered Species Act and determine ways to improve the act to better conserve habitat and help species recover.

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Defenders of Wildlife is a leading nonprofit conservation organization recognized as one of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat. With more than 490,000 members and supporters, Defenders of Wildlife is an effective leader on endangered species issues.