Tax Incentives Can Help Preserve Species in Peril

By BOB STALLMAN and FRED KRUPP

THE SHORT but tempestuous history of endangered species conservation in America has seen its share of conflicts between rural landowners and environmentalists.

We’re all familiar with the tales: ranchers and wolf advocates pitted against each other; logging communities concerned that protecting the spotted owl could harm their livelihoods; West Coast farmers, commercial fishermen and environmentalists disagreeing over whether scarce water should be used for crop irrigation or salmon. The battles seemed as inevitable as death and taxes until now.

Opposing sides in the endangered species debate may finally find common ground. Unlikely as it seems, that common ground is in the U.S. tax code. The two sides have started working together to create tax incentives that will benefit farmers and rare critters alike.

Farmers and environmentalists are now working together with lawmakers to develop significant new tax credits for conserving rare plants and animals. The new approach is a welcome change after years of battling to a draw over changes to the Endangered Species Act.

It’s also a pragmatic strategy, since farmers and other private landowners who provide homes to more than two-thirds of all listed species on their lands are an obvious choice to care for the habitats that declining species need in order to recover. Until now, the problem has been that conserving habitat has offered few rewards to farmers and other landowners. Tax benefits might be just what we need to change that, and make caring for threatened species a benefit rather than a burden.

Common interest

Tax incentives will help Americans see that caring for rare wildlife is a national issue, not a regional problem. The forest landowner in the Southeast who provides well-managed forest habitat for the red-cockaded woodpecker and the gopher tortoise has something in common with the Texas rancher who provides grassland and shrubs needed by the black-capped vireo. Both of them have something in common with the Northeastern dairy owner whose cows maintain the open, wet meadows required by the threatened bog turtle.

These rural landowners are providing needed homes for wildlife that all Americans, city dwellers and rural residents alike, should value. Everyone enjoys the benefits of the nation’s rich wildlife heritage, and tax benefits are an appropriate way of sharing the costs of this public good.

There is still another reason to consider using the tax code to advance the conservation of endangered species. Tax incentives are a “carrot” that could balance the “stick” of regulations. Until now, our country has relied heavily on regulatory approaches for conserving rare wildlife. Landowners often dreaded finding endangered species on their property because of the regulatory burdens they brought.

While we differ on what other reforms are needed, we agree that tax incentives offer a means of restoring habitats, reducing conflicts and recovering species. The more we use them, the less need there should be for stringent regulations to accomplish conservation goals. It would be a welcome approach for most landowners, a practical one for government agencies, and a bright new hope for anyone who believes that what matters most is that rare species survive and recover.

There is reason to believe that Congress is eager to embrace this idea. Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of 17 senators introduced a bill (The Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2007, S- 700) that would give significant tax credits to landowners willing to help move rare wildlife along the road to recovery. Among the co- sponsors are some influential champions the Democratic chairman, the top Republican, and three other members of the Finance Committee, which is the Senate body that manages tax legislation. It has been many years since any other endangered species bill has attracted such broad-based support on Capitol Hill, and there are a host of other tax incentive ideas that could attract similar support among lawmakers.

The Senate Finance Committee is expected to consider The Endangered Species Recovery Act soon; it has picked a particularly symbolic time. Our national symbol, the bald eagle, is soon expected to soar off the endangered species list, after more than 40 years of steady recovery.

Unfortunately, the eagle will not have a lot of company as an endangered species list graduate. Part of the reason is that we have not paid enough attention to the needs of landowners who want to help conserve wildlife. It’s time to create positive incentives for endangered species protection, and the tax code is an excellent vehicle to accomplish that goal. Conflict will give way to cooperation, where farmers and species both win.

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Bob Stallman is a rice and cattle producer from Texas. Fred Krupp is president of Environmental Defense. This article was distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

(c) 2007 Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.