Environmental Defense Fund Will Pay Landowners To Protect Endangered Species

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) today announced the first-ever program by a private conservation organization to provide financial and technical assistance to landowners in carrying out activities on their property which will help conserve endangered species. To support its “Stewardship Fund,” EDF will also file an application with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to establish a “safe harbor” program that will allow participating landowners to avoid incurring new regulatory restrictions on their land.

The Stewardship Fund was recently started by EDF in the Texas Hill Country, where the group is providing financial and technical assistance to ranchers who help conserve two endangered songbirds, the golden-cheeked warbler and the black-capped vireo. The ranchers will receive help in undertaking habitat enhancement activities, and in reducing nest parasitism by cowbirds, a non-endangered bird that drives out the two endangered species. To date, EDF has signed agreements covering more than 22,000 acres with more than a dozen Texas landowners.

EDF expects to provide about $100,000 worth of assistance over two years. The novel approach being taken by EDF has gained the backing of some traditional adversaries of the Endangered Species Act like the Texas Wildlife Association, the Central Texas Cattleraiser’s Association and the Texas Farm Bureau. EDF expects its investment and the ranchers’ hard work to pay off on behalf of these two rare songbirds.

“One of the biggest challenges of conserving endangered species is how best to protect those species on private land,” said Michael Bean, who chairs EDF’s wildlife program. “Without the support of private landowners many species would not have a chance of survival.”

“If these rare species are ever to recover, more of their habitats will need to be restored and properly managed,” said Melinda Taylor, EDF senior attorney. “That can be costly, and unless we are prepared to pitch in and help landowners meet those costs, we can’t expect much progress.”

Most of the species on the endangered list have much of their habitat on private land, and many more of them are declining than are improving. Getting the cooperation of private landowners has been an especially vexing problem, not only because of the costs involved but also because of the land use restrictions that often accompany the presence of endangered species on private property. The EDF initiative addresses both of these concerns, helping landowners meet the costs and giving them protection from added land use restrictions through the safe harbor program. Three other safe harbor programs are already in operation in Texas, including programs for the red-cockaded woodpecker in east Texas, for the Attwater prairie chicken on the Texas coast, and for the northern Aplomado falcon in south Texas.