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[109 Senate Hearings]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access]
[DOCID: f:32208.wais]
S. Hrg. 109-788
LEGISLATIVE FIELD HEARING ON S. 260,
``THE PARTNERS FOR FISH AND WILDLIDE ACT''
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON
ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
APRIL 22, 2005--TULSA, OK
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works
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congress.senate
__________
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COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma, Chairman
JOHN W. WARNER, Virginia JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont
CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri MAX BAUCUS, Montana
GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut
LINCOLN CHAFEE, Rhode Island BARBARA BOXER, California
LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
JOHN THUNE, South Dakota HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York
JIM DeMINT, South Carolina FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey
JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia BARACK OBAMA, Illinois
DAVID VITTER, Louisiana
Andrew Wheeler, Majority Staff Director
Ken Connolly, Minority Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
APRIL 22, 2005--TULSA, OK
OPENING STATEMENTS
Inhofe, Hon. James M., U.S. Senator from the State of Oklahoma,
prepared statement............................................. 1
WITNESSES
Hall, Dale, Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Region 2)..................................................... 5
Prepared statement........................................... 20
Bidwell, Terry, partners program participant, Wildlife Biologist,
and Professor, Oklahoma State University....................... 10
Prepared statement........................................... 22
Chervanka, Verlene, partners program participant, Sayre, OK...... 14
Prepared statement........................................... 24
McKnight, Hal, partners program participant, Duncan, OK.......... 11
Prepared statement........................................... 23
Neal, Jeff, partners program participant, Indianola, OK.......... 9
Prepared statement........................................... 22
Straughn, Debbie, principle, Deer Creek Elementary School, Emond,
OK............................................................. 13
Prepared statement........................................... 24
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Statement, McDaniels, Andy, Oklahoma Wildlife Federation......... 25
LEGISLATIVE FIELD HEARING ON S. 260,
``THE PARTNERS FOR FISH AND WILDLIFE ACT''
----------
FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2005
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Environment and Public Works,
Tulsa, OK.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 1 p.m. in the
Tulsa Conference Center, Oklahoma State University, Tulsa, OK,
Hon. James M. Inhofe (chairman of the committee) presiding.
Present: Senator Inhofe.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES M. INHOFE, U.S. SENATOR FROM
THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA
Senator Inhofe. Our hearing will come to order and let me
explain to you a little bit about what is going on here. When
you have a piece of legislation that is major in any way, you
always have hearings, and normally those hearings take place in
Washington, DC. Now, we decided that--I'm the chairman of a
committee called the Environment and Public Works Committee, so
I can have it anywhere I want, so we're going to have it in
Oklahoma and we'll talk about this program in a minute, but let
me just before we do that thank you for coming.
This is a very significant thing, this is something that
people like. I mean, you know, when I became chairman of the
Environment and Public Works Committee back in--well, it's 2
years ago now, it's the largest committee in Washington. Its
environment side is all the 17 bureaucracies including the EPA,
Corps of Engineers and all that, and then the public works side
is all the public works, bridges, buildings and roads and
highways and all of that, so it is very significant and one of
the first things that I said when we started off is what we're
going to do is three things, No. 1, in terms of the 17
bureaucracies, we're going to have sound science based on
decisions that are sound science, not this garage science that
a lot of people use; No. 2, we're going to have cost-benefit
analysis so people know how much all this fun is costing them;
and, No. 3, an attitudinal change. There are some--some
bureaucracies and I would say the IRS is a good example, the
EPA has historically been a good example of people in getting
them instead of ruling to have an attitude of serving and
that's what this is all about today.
Before I start, I want to make an announcement that will
be--should be exciting to everyone here, even though it has
nothing to do with our subject today, I've been trying to get
our highway reauthorization bill through since a year ago this
week. Last year we got it passed out of the committee, my
committee to the senate, from the senate floor to conference
and conference, it died there at that time, that's back when
Tom Daschle was there and he was obstructing things. Well, he's
not there anymore, so we're going to get this bill out and just
this morning I had very good news, we went ahead and filed--
it's kind of complicated, it's a technical thing, procedural
matter, parliamentary matter, it is a motion to preclude
someone from filibustering the highway bill so that when I go
there on Monday, if you turn on C-SPAN starting at 2 o'clock in
the afternoon, you're going to see me talking for 6 hours about
the highways and we're going to try to get it out before the
end of the week, that's a deadline, so we're looking forward to
trying to get that done. There's nothing Oklahoma needs more
right now. We are tied with Missouri being dead last in the
condition of our bridges and I don't think there's anyone here
who traveled in whether you came in from Sayre or southwest
Oklahoma or southeast Oklahoma who didn't realize as they were
traveling along the roads that we have a great need.
Now, I want to welcome our witnesses representing each
corner of the State and thank them for their testimony. I would
also like to thank Mr. Jontie Aldrich, the director of the
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program here in Tulsa, for his
help in coordinating today's hearing. Today's field hearing
concerns legislation that I've introduced. It's S. 260, the
Partner for Fish and Wildlife Act, that I've sponsored along
with Senator Jeffords. You might know Senator Jeffords is the
ranking Democrat on the committee that I chair. He just
announced his retirement yesterday as a matter of fact, which I
was--I won't tell you. Anyway, also, Senator Cochran who is
chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, you can't ask
for a better co-sponsor of legislation than the Chairman of the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
Today is the 35th anniversary of Earth Day which has become
in many parts of the country a day for extremist
environmentalist organizations to tell us all what's wrong with
the world. However, the truth is much different. This--I'm
going to tell you something that people are not aware of, over
the last 35 years our Nation has made great progress in
providing for a better environment, improving public health.
Between 1970 and 2003, listen to this, the gross domestic
product has increased 176 percent, the vehicle miles traveled
increased 155 percent, energy consumption increased 45 percent
and the United States population grew by 39 percent, and during
this same period of time, the emissions, the air emissions from
the six air pollutants dropped by 51 percent. Now, that's since
the Clean Air Act and then the Clean Air amendments of 1990.
It's a huge success. But with the media who doesn't want you to
believe that anything good is going on in the environment and
for the far-left environmentalist groups who hate hearing
nothing about the environment, they're money making machines to
try to elect liberals to Congress, you don't hear these good
news, but being Earth Day, I wanted to share that with you.
On August 26, 2004, President Bush signed Executive Order
13352 to insure that Federal agencies pursue new cooperative
conservation actions designed to involve private landowners
rather than simply make mandates which private landowners must
fulfill. What a refreshing change this is, to see people as
I've been talking to you as you arrived today, people who are
enjoying this, people who want to expand their programs and
we'll hear from them today. As the Chairman of the Senate
Environment and Public Works Committee, a new approach to
conservation is especially important to me. All conservation
programs should create positive incentives to protect species
and above all should hold the rights of private landowners as
sacred. A positive step towards those aims is authorization of
the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program which has already
proven to be an effective habitat and conservation program that
leverages federal funds and utilizes voluntarily private
landowner participation. Since 1987, the Partners Program has
been a successful voluntary partnership program that helps
private landowners restore habitat. Through over 35,000
agreements nationwide with private landowners, the Partners
Program has accomplished a restoration of over 700,000 acres in
wetlands, one and a half million acres of prairie and native
grasslands and nearly 6,000 miles of riparian around in-stream
habitat. Partners Program agreements are funded through
contributions from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and in-kind
contributions from participating private landowners, which is
actually three-to-one private landowners. Since 1990, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service has provided--I was talking about
Oklahoma now--$3.5 million of private landowners which have
contributed, private landowners, $12.5 million so $3.5 million
and $12.5 million to restore 124,000 acres of habitat in
Oklahoma through 700 individual voluntary agreements with
private landowners. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service District
Office in Tulsa currently reports that at least another 100
private landowners are waiting to enter into Partners projects
as soon as funds become available. Currently, the Partners
Program operates only as a line item annual appropriations bill
and is subject to funding redistribution to other programs. Let
me tell you what that's all about. You have a good program,
it's worked for years, everybody wants it. The only ones
against it are the far-left environmentalists who think if it's
not something completely controlled by Washington, it can't be
good; and, consequently, it's something that is appropriated
each year. Now, through this process you might get an
appropriation that looks like it would do a good job for the
country in one year, then all of a sudden because there are
other needs, they start taking out of the appropriations and
redistributing that money in other programs. This legislation
provides specific authorization with funding similar to what I
have just described the authorization program for highways and
specific authorization with funding to allow the program to
operate and grow in the future. To date, the Partners Program
has received little attention. My bill will build on the
successful program to provide additional funding and added
stability. Prior to hearing testimony from our first panel, I'd
like to show a short part of an ESPN program that was sponsored
by the National Rifle Association supporting the Partners
Program and highlighting participation landowners in Oklahoma.
The landowners featured in this video, Jeff Neal and Verlene
Chervanka, I'll get that a little more naturally in a minute,
they're here, so we have a couple of movie stars that are here
today. I want you to look for them up here, Verlene, and see
what you look like on the film, so we'll watch that first and
then I'll introduce our panel. By the way, we do have quite a
bit of the staff that's here from Washington from my committee
that's come down to make this official and the person who is
not the technician is Ryan Jackson. He's trying to operate the
TV right now. I'll give you 30 more minutes. By the way, Ryan
Jackson is one of the main people who is making a successful
operation out of cleaning up Tar Creek, you know, something
they said couldn't be done and we're doing it now and Ryan is
probably the one that has more to do with that than anybody
else.
[Whereupon, the video was shown.]
Senator Inhofe. That was good. That's good. Let's give our
stars a hand. OK. Good. All right. Well, Dale, thank you for
being here. I'll submit for the record Andy McDaniels'
statement be made a part of the record at this time without
objection. Dale, thank you for being here and we'll just
recognize you at this time for an opening statement. Before you
do, let me mention, see, we have Nathan and Sage, and Ryan
you've already met, who are here from the committee from
Washington. We have quite a few and where's Collison? Collison,
he had a hard time sitting still waiting that long before they
shot that turkey. Lou Halsey, Josh Kivett, Danny Finnerty. Who
else do you have here? I guess that's it. All right, Dale,
you're on.
[The prepared statement of Senator Inhofe follows:]
Statement of Hon. James M. Inhofe, U.S. Senator from the
State of Oklahoma
Good afternoon. I want to welcome our witnesses representing each
corner of the State and thank them for their testimony. I would also
like to thank Mr. Jontie Aldrich, Director of the Partners for Fish and
Wildlife Program here in Tulsa, for his help in coordinating today's
hearing.
Today's field hearing concerns my legislation S. 260, the Partners
for Fish and Wildlife Act that I have sponsored along with Senator
Jeffords, the Ranking Member on the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee and Senator Cochran, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
Today is the 35th Anniversary of Earth Day which has become in many
parts of the country a day for extremist environmental organizations to
tell us what is all wrong with the world. However, the truth is much
different. For instance, over the last 30 years, our Nation has made
great progress in providing for a better environment and improving
public health. Between 1970 and 2003, gross domestic product increased
176 percent, vehicle miles traveled increased 155 percent, energy
consumption increased 45 percent, and U.S. population grew by 39
percent. During the same time period, total emissions of the six
principal air pollutants dropped by 51 percent. So this hearing is
especially appropriate to be held today because it concerns a program
demonstrating actual environmental results in full voluntary
cooperation with private landowners.
On August 26, 2004, President Bush signed Executive Order 13352 to
ensure that federal agencies pursue new cooperative conservation
actions designed to involve private landowners rather than simply
making mandates which private landowners must fulfill.
As Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, a
new approach to conservation is especially important to me. All
conservation programs should create positive incentives to protect
species and, above all, should hold the rights of private landowners
sacred.
A positive step toward those aims is authorization of the Partners
for Fish and Wildlife Program which has already proven to be an
effective habitat conservation program that leverages federal funds and
utilizes voluntary private landowner participation. Since 1987, the
Partners Program has been a successful voluntary partnership program
that helps private landowners restore habitat. Through over 35,000
agreements nation-wide with private landowners, the Partners Program
has accomplished the restoration of over 700,000 acres of wetlands, 1.5
million acres of prairie and native grasslands, and nearly 6,000 miles
of riparian and in-stream habitat. Partners Program agreements are
funded through contributions from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
and cash and in-kind contributions from participating private
landowners.
Since 1990, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has provided
$3,511,121 and private landowners have contributed $12,638,272 to
restore 124,285 acres of habitat in Oklahoma through 700 individual
voluntary agreements with private landowners. The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service District Office in Tulsa currently reports that at
least another 100 private landowners are waiting to enter into
Partner's projects as soon as funds become available.
Currently, the Partners Program operates only as a line item in
annual appropriation bills and is subject to funding redistribution to
other programs. My legislation provides specific authorization with
funding to allow the program to operate and grow in the future. To
date, the Partners Program has received little attention. My bill will
build on this successful program to provide additional funding and
added stability.
Prior to hearing testimony from our first panel, I would like to
show a short part of an ESPN program sponsored by the National Rifle
Association supporting the Partners Program and highlighting
participating landowners in Oklahoma. The landowners featured in the
video, Mr. Jeff Neal and Mr. Verlene Chervanka, are here to testify
this afternoon.
I will also submit for the record a statement from Mr. Andy
McDaniels with the Oklahoma Wildlife Federation, and I would like to
thank Mr. McDaniels for his help in bringing attention to today's
hearing.
I will now call up our first panel from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Regional Director Dale Hall.
STATEMENT OF DALE HALL, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, U.S. FISH AND
WILDLIFE SERVICE, REGION 2
Mr. Hall. Thanks, Senator. It's truly an honor for me to be
here today to testify on S. 260 and the great program that has
been displayed here already this afternoon. I'd like to request
that my written comments be submitted for the record.
Senator Inhofe. Yes. You can take longer than the normal
time. Why don't we start off by saying what states are in this
region.
Mr. Hall. Yes, sir. I am the Regional Director for the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service and our regional office is in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. Our region is Arizona, New Mexico,
Texas and Oklahoma. As the Regional Director for the Fish and
Wildlife Service, one of the privileges I have is to be part of
the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program. The service firmly
supports the philosophy that by working together, the federal
government and private landowners can achieve tremendous
success in habitat conservation. In August 2004, President Bush
signed an Executive order on cooperative conservation asking
all agencies to strengthen their efforts to work together with
tribes, States, local governments and landowners to achieve
conservation goals. The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program
exemplifies the Service's dedication to cooperative
conservation and our commitment to work with private landowners
to further the country's conservation goals while honoring
individual landowner rights. That's very important. Many
Partners Program projects achieve conservation goals alongside
ongoing productive economic activities and that is a
substantial goal that we receive. The vast majority of this
habitat in the United States for fish and wildlife resources is
in private hands. Estimates have been as high as 70 percent of
all fish and wildlife habitat in the United States is owned by
private landowners. If we are to leave a real legacy of
conservation for future generations, we have to find ways to
honor those landowner stewards that have been out there on the
land, want to improve the land and want to leave it better than
they found it. To help achieve these goals, in 1987 the Service
established the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program,
otherwise known as the Partners Program, under the broad
authority of the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act and the
Fish and Wildlife Act. The Partners Program is a voluntary
habitat restoration program that recognizes the long-standing
and strong natural resource stewardship ethic present in many
private landowners. As an example, in Oklahoma, the Partners
Program has experienced tremendous success. Since 1990, we have
initiated 684 projects on over 128,000 acres of private land.
This includes 14,400 wetland acres, 82,600 grassland acres,
1,300 woodland and shrubland acres, 25,100 acres of other
habitat and over 230 miles of riparian stream. Furthermore, the
Partners Program funds have created over 100 outdoor education
classrooms on school campuses that will provide future
generations of Americans with hands-on experience working with
the land and wildlife, and I understand you'll be hearing from
both landowners and from the school system today and I just
want to compliment the people ahead of time for the great work
they're doing. S. 260, the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Act,
would codify the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program.
Because of the tremendous success of the program and working
with private landowners to conduct cost effective habitat
projects for the benefit of fish and wildlife resources in the
United States, I am pleased to announce and testify on behalf
of the Administration that the Administration supports this
legislation. Senator, if you have questions.
Senator Inhofe. That was just as of today.
Mr. Hall. That is as of today. We got it cleared yesterday.
Senator Inhofe. It's very unusual, Dale, I'm glad you
mentioned that, because the Administration has a policy that
they don't--they don't endorse any legislation until it is
actually in a--passed out of a committee, so this is an
exception and it should tell you how strong they feel about it.
Now, it's been handled the way that I described just as a line
item, but this is authorization. Why don't you share with us
the advantages to having this as an authorized program.
Mr. Hall. Well, you mentioned some of those advantages in
your opening comments, but it's really important to
differentiate between a program that's established through
budget appropriations and a program that's established through
legislative mandate. As you pointed out under the earlier, this
program has been funded for since 1987 through the normal
appropriations process, but that is always open to be cut, to
be eliminated even because there's no, what we would call,
organic legislation that institutionalizes this program. Your
bill does that for us and gives us the standing in this program
to be able to push back even in budget cut times to make sure
this program survives and keeps going.
Senator Inhofe. Don't you think also there is--that the
fact that you can plan for the future, you can look down the
road and say, This is what we'll be able to do in the future,
but you can't do that when it's a year-to-year uncertainty. The
S. 260, which is otherwise known as the Marriage Opportunity
Relief and Empowerment Act of 2005, provides a variety of tax
releases--relief includes Section 308 which provides for
specific tax exclusions or deductions for payments made under
the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program. I would like to get
you on record as to whether you believe that this legislation
should include that deductibility of the federal share as it
does in the legislation.
Mr. Hall. The security for the private landowners that this
is not a punishment is absolutely essential. When a private
landowner steps up and expends their funds, not only are they
offering up their lands, which is a gift to the American public
for the natural resources, but they're also spending their own
money and we believe that it would be a sin to have them have
to pay taxes on the moneys that come to them to help do these
benefits that really reach out to the entire American public.
Waterfowl, natural resource, air, water, all of these benefits
come from habitat restoration. I am not enough of a scholar to
understand whether or not it needs to be in two places because
I don't know the different committees that might have to be
discussed with and the different sorts of debates that might
have to go there. I would simply say that it's critically
important that the private landowners that receive funding to
help us with habitat through this, that it is extremely
important that they not have to pay taxes on those moneys that
they receive from us.
Senator Inhofe. I certainly agree with that. You have this
in several states within your jurisdiction. Do you have any
anything specific you can say about what you have done in terms
of--to help either threatened or endangered species?
Mr. Hall. Oh, yes, sir. If I may give a little background,
I have worked in the endangered species program as well for
well over 15 years and I have seen leading with regulation and
how it fails. The American public wants to have good natural
resources. They want to have species. They want to have
diversity on the property. I have never met a landowner that
wouldn't like to have endangered species on their property.
They're proud to be the land stewards. But we cannot expect
them to work with us and help us recover those species if the
banner that we're working under is no good deed goes
unpunished, so we have to find ways to substitute regulation
with partnership and voluntary actions in cases--and actually a
good example is the lesser prairie chicken. We have petitioned
to list the lesser prairie chicken and we have, frankly,
resisted that because we've had the Partners Program working
with private landowners restoring habitat for the lesser
prairie chicken and if you look at what the Endangered Species
Act really asks us to do is to identify threats to a species
and then try to figure out ways to address those threats so
that it's not endangered extinction or won't become. The
Partners Program allows us to get out in front of that, start
working to create the habitat and habitat is the primary factor
that causes a lot of species to be listed. We get out and start
restoring the habitat that you've seen in the film and through
as you pointed over 2 million acres nationally and, you know,
several hundred thousand acres in our region alone over the
past years, it gives us a chance to recover a species without
having to have regulation. When you do that, partners are
willing to come because the threat of no good deed goes
unpunished is not there, so this is really important and I
believe that what we're seeing now in the debates over the
Endangered Species Act is that the Partners Program will
eventually become the delivery mechanism for recovering
species. The Act passes its goal to delist, to recover the
conservation of the species, regulation does no more than hold
status quo. There is no law in the United States that allows us
or any other federal agency to require anyone's habitat be
improved. Regulation can only hold current status. The Partners
Program really moves it forward, increases the values and
brings back real recovery objectives.
Senator Inhofe. That's good, Dale. You know, I know it's a
little irregular to do this, but you've come further than
anyone else. Well, that's not true, we have some from
Washington to be here today, and I would like to ask if there
are any--confine it to landowner, do any of the landowners here
have any questions that they'd like to ask, take advantage of
the fact that he is here in Oklahoma and you have access to
him, any questions you want to ask him?
Mr. Chervanka. Well, I'd like to say the Partners Wildlife
Program, I've worked with government agencies, you know, like
putting land in CRP and different programs with USDA, but
there's always a question mark in the back of your mind when
you work with them, they've got too much control over you
really, this might be my thinking, but with the Partners
Program, when I started working with the Partners Program, it's
all different. They're just like another landowner. We're all
trying to get together and do the same thing. That feeling is
just not there, just kind of broke down the barriers. I get to
work with all of them and that's how I feel about your program.
Mr. Hall. We can't say enough about how we appreciate you
being willing to make these contributions. I know the
landowners see it that they're doing something they enjoy and
they're getting some good hunting values and, you know, I love
to hunt, too, but what's often left out is that Verlene is
making contributions to all the people in the United States
when he does that. I don't think that's recognized as often as
it should be.
Senator Inhofe. Verlene, you're trying to be very, very
generous in the way you said that. I can remember when about 3
years ago we had a Regulatory Agency was trying to declare
propane as a dangerous, hazardous material and I noticed--I was
chairing the committee hearing in Washington. I noticed a bunch
of kids in orange and red coats and I didn't know who they were
that year coming in and I didn't know who they were when they
sat down and during the course of this thing we had the
bureaucracy over here saying, ``Well, we need to be regulating
this and it doesn't hurt to have one more level of bureaucracy
crawling over the farms. We've calculated it's only going to
cost your Oklahoma farmers some $700 a year and they can afford
that.'' Well, we beat the thing and these kids in the back
stood up and applauded and it ended up being the Oklahoma Ag
Leadership Group and I didn't even know they were there, but
this is what he's getting at because a lot of times there is
this attitude you find prevalent in Washington where, again,
they're here to rule, not to serve. You, Dale, are here to
serve. We appreciate the contributions you've made. Now, we're
going to ask the other panel to come up. Do you have time to
stay for the other panel or do you have to get back?
Mr. Hall. It would be my privilege to stay here as long as
you need me, sir.
Senator Inhofe. Fine. Thank you very much for being here
today. Our next group, if you would take the stand, we have Mr.
Jeff Neal who is a professional hunting guide conducting many
international hunts. Mr. Neal owns 1,600 acres in southeastern
Oklahoma near Indianola. Part of the property is in the
Partners Program. He will testify on the improvements made on
his land through the program and his intent to continue with
the program. Mr. Neal is featured in the NRA-sponsored video on
Partners Program which we just saw. The next witness will be
Dr. Terry Bidwell. Dr. Bidwell is a wildlife biologist and
professor at Oklahoma State University. Do you hear that, John?
Mr. Collison. Yes, sir.
Senator Inhofe. He has personal property and OSU property
in the Partners Program. Mr. Hal McKnight, Mr. McKnight is from
Oklahoma City and he has 200 acres in the Partners Program near
Duncan, OK and helped create the Partners Program outdoor
classrooms in the Oklahoma City area. Ms. Straughn is a
principal of Deer Creek Elementary School in Edmond. As I
pointed out to her, Edmond is the largest city in Oklahoma
without an airport. She needs to address that. She has an
outdoor classroom for students sponsored by the Partners
Program. Verlene Chervanka, who we've already heard from and
we'll hear from again, owns 1,250 acres in northwestern
Oklahoma near Sayre on his property, 315 acres are in the
Partners Program. So this has been successful and what we'll do
is we'll go ahead and use the 5-minute clock on this for
opening statements. Your entire statement will be made a part
of the record and we'll start with Mr. Jeff Neal.
STATEMENT OF JEFF NEAL, PARTNERS PROGRAM PARTICIPANT,
INDIANOLA, OK
Mr. Neal. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for
the opportunity to discuss my involvement with the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Services Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program. I
first became involved in the Partners for Fish and Wildlife
Program in 2001. My wife, Jennifer, and I purchased the 1,200-
acre ranch along a 5-mile stretch of the South Canadian River.
The Neal Ranch is located in Pittsburg County along the South
Canadian River. Our property is located just to the west of
Lake Eufaula, Oklahoma's largest reservoir. After we purchased
the land, we needed a lot of technical assistance to maximize
our land for wildlife. I contacted the Partners for Fish and
Wildlife officials in Tulsa, OK, particularly Jontie Aldrich.
They have worked with me by providing the technical assistance,
advised me of other State and Federal conservation programs and
provided cost-share funding for wetland restoration and native
grass restoration. Without the Partners for Fish and Wildlife
Program, it would not be as productive for my family's needs
and the wildlife resources that now live on my ranch. Our
restored and enhanced wetlands have increased the biodiversity,
the waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds and other wetland-
dependent wildlife species. We see river otters frequently and
have a pair of nesting bald eagles and a good population of the
endangered Least Terns nesting on the Canadian River. When we
purchased the property, it had 250 cows grazing; therefore, it
was eroded and damaged by the cattle and their unsupervised
grazing. We got the cows off and immediately began working with
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Partners Program. During the
first 2 years we owned the property we rarely saw any evidence
of much wildlife. Since the Partners Program has assisted with
the development of the dikes and planning of the 120-acre
native grass area, we now see a lot of deer, turkey, quail and
most plentiful waterfowl and shorebirds. For instance, I
arrived at the ranch last Friday, April 15, 2005, at 5 p.m. and
by 5:30 I had seen over 300 teal; geese; 20 to 30 American
white pelicans; a herd of deer; and 2 flocks of turkey. Before
the help of the Partners Program, the areas that now hold these
species were beat down and overgrazed fields. Conservation,
preservation and maintaining habitat for wildlife isn't
something new to me. I've enjoyed a career of 30 years in the
international hunting industry and have had the opportunity to
witness all kind of lands worldwide that maintain the
population of wildlife. My belief is if we don't create habitat
and maintain it, there will no future in America for our
wildlife. As human population soars, animals can lose. As I've
witnessed in most of the African and European countries that
still have wild and unfenced wildlife, the only reason they
have this is because they have provided good habitat, food
source and most of all good supervision. When I mention
supervision, I'm referring to private land that is controlled
by someone such as in the United States. It would be more than
likely the landowner. We must create habitat for wildlife and
protect it and with the partnership between the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Partners Program and the landowners, it is a win-win
situation.
Senator Inhofe. Thank you very much, Mr. Neal.
Dr. Bidwell.
STATEMENT OF TERRY BIDWELL, PARTNERS PROGRAM
PARTICIPANT, WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST, PROFESSOR,
OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY
Dr. Bidwell. Thank you, Senator. It's a pleasure for me to
be here today. I'm speaking both as a private landowner and
also a representative of Oklahoma State University, so I kind
of have two hats to wear today. Jeff was smart to double space
his and I didn't, so I'm not going to try to read mine. My
bifocals don't focus that well anyway, but I think I can
summarize quite well. My wife and I have been involved with the
land for many years in Oklahoma. Three of our four sets of
grandparents were all homesteaders here in Oklahoma, so we've
been around land our whole life. We've been through many
different kinds of programs and the Partners Program is a real
success. We've been involved in our private land in northern
Payne County for about 10 years with the Partners Program.
We've developed three or four wetlands depending on what you
define as a wetland on our riparian zones. We had there one
that needs to be repaired. We've used three free stock tanks
and fencing through the Partners Program to restrict the
livestock access to the water, which, in turn, has really
benefitted the livestock themselves. It reduces the chances for
disease and parasites, so that's a benefit. Also, if any of you
have cattle, you realize in the wintertime sometimes you need
to chop ice and having those freeze-proof tanks there makes
me--I can be a little lazier and I can quail hunt instead of
chopping ice for the cattle, so there's a benefit. We also use
our place as kind of an avenue for single-parent families, for
people to come out who have children that want to fish or hunt
that aren't able to go out and do that thing. We sponsor duck
hunts for kids, for example we take kids fishing, we have a Boy
Scout troop that comes out on and uses the area quite a lot, so
a lot of people get benefit from the Partners Program on our
land beyond just our family.
The next issue is my job. In the past 31 years I've worked
for several agencies. Now I work for Oklahoma State University
and I've seen plenty over the years of various programs that
have came and went with cost-share programs, government
programs and privacy of the private landowners. It's been
stated here many times today the key is cooperation and that's
what I see with the Partners Program that is really great and
it also interfaces very well with other government cost-share
programs, it doesn't overlap them, but it's very complimentary.
So in my job with OSU, if people don't invite you to their
land, I don't have a job; in other words, it's all by
cooperation. OSU obviously doesn't have a cost-share program to
work with private landowners, so I know a lot of the employees
of the Fish and Wildlife Service. Some of them are former
students and the real key to this program that's not been
stated today, it's very successful because of the way it's set
up, but the biggest success are the people that the Fish and
Wildlife Service has hired that go out and meet with those
landowners on a one-on-one basis because that's where the war
is either won or lost is the one-on-one contact and that's the
real benefit of the Partners Program are the employees of the
Fish and Wildlife Service that do that. That's not just in
Oklahoma. I work in other States and by and large it's been a
tremendous program because of the people that go out to the
field and work with private landowners like myself and Jeff and
others here.
Mr. Neal. Yeah.
Dr. Bidwell. So I really appreciate the opportunity to be
here.
Senator Inhofe. Well, good. Thank you very much for that.
Mr. McKnight.
STATEMENT OF HAL McKNIGHT, PARTNERS PROGRAM PARTICIPANT,
DUNCAN, OK
Mr. McKnight. Thank you. Certainly, thank you, Senator
Inhofe, for allowing this occurrence and for your staff, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For my entire life, I've held
one dream paramount above all others, that dream has been to
improve and restore habitat. This dream has come true because
of the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program. We started
working with Jontie Aldrich and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service in the early 1990s on land that has been in our family
for five generations. Many neighbors thought I had totally lost
my mind when we started cutting up prime grazing land in
southern Oklahoma. Over 200 acres of wetland projects have
proven their profound effects. Creation of these projects have
greatly benefited our cattle operation by distributing grazing
and by distributing water. Additionally, strategically placed
wetlands have proven that they totally prevent soil erosion
which we've had a great problem with in southern Oklahoma.
Kevin Costner in the movie, Field of Dreams stated, ``Build it
and they will come.'' Unfortunately, not one deceased baseball
player has ever appeared at our wetlands; however, we have had
a tremendous biodiversity of wildlife and waterfowl that have
collected around these wetland sites. We've lost over half the
wetlands in the United States since 1950. Loss of habitat has
resulted in a doubling of species listed on the endangered and
threatened list in the last 10 years. The Partners Program is
truly a bright burning star in this darkness. It's a wonderful
government program, a true volunteer partnership program that
works very well except for one thing. The one thing this
program lacks is annual funding. If this can be obtained,
everyone involved will feel like we've won the lottery. Our
wetland projects have received both local and national
attention. In 1994 Conservation I was greatly honored to
receive the National Wetland Award to the private sector. Local
awards included recognition from the Oklahoma Wildlife
Federation. Several documentary films and large publications
have featured our wetlands in the area of Stephens County which
is east of Duncan, OK. Readers Digest in 1999 did an article
called, ``Champions of the Wild'' on our sites. A photographer
was dispatched from Los Angeles, CA, to take my picture for the
article. She asked me to stand in the marsh holding a saddle
over one shoulder, a rope and a shovel over the other. If I
would have done that, I would have drowned. Instead, I brought
along my Labrador retriever, Hawk, and I said, ``We'll look
stoic together.'' The photograph, fortunately, turned out
extremely well. We received hundreds of calls and letters as a
result of that article. About half of the correspondence was
asking about the Partners Program and how people could benefit
with the wetland restoration project on their land. The other
responses inquired about stud service with my dog, Hawk. With
over 30 million photos published in Readers Digest, Hawk became
the most photographed dog in the world. Public awareness for
the Partners Program is essential. Part of that responsibility
is owned by cooperates like myself. There are zillions of
people like myself that wish to be good stewards of lands and
waters. The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program allows that
to happen. It has been a true privilege to be a cooperator in
the Partners Program. I greatly appreciate the time and effort
put forth by Jontie Aldrich and everyone at the Tulsa office of
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We could not realize our
dreams coming true without their help. I hold deep gratitude
for champions of this program. Senator Jim Inhofe is one such
champion in part because the Senator understands the program
and the need for annual funding. The late Jim Valvano, who was
coach at North Carolina State, once told me it was impossible
to motivate anyone else. He tried his entire life to do that
with players. Finally, one day he realized he could at best
only motivate himself. Every morning when he would wake up, he
would ask himself one question, Am I going to be passionate
about this day? Jim Valvano believed passion was the key to
success. The continued success of the Partners for Fish and
Wildlife Program depends on the passion of everyone involved. I
encourage all to sustain this passion. The profound effects of
the Partners Program are limitless, thank God. Thank you.
Senator Inhofe. Thank you, Mr. McKnight. All right. Ms.
Straughn, tell me why the students at Deer Creek Elementary
School would care about this program.
STATEMENT OF DEBBIE STRAUGHN, PRINCIPAL, DEER CREEK ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL, EDMOND, OK
Ms. Straughn. Well, Senator, thank you very much for
allowing me to talk today. We care deeply about the Partners
because we tried to construct an outdoor classroom initially
with private contractors and it was a disaster. In fact, we had
private contractors take advantage of us, so it was not until
the Partners came along that we were able to change things
drastically.
I am a principal at Deer Creek Elementary. It is a Blue
Ribbon School which is located in Edmond, OK. As a Blue Ribbon
school, we are always looking for ways to involve our children
in hands-on learning opportunities. It was very important to us
to be able to add environmental studies for our children. We
were able to do this by creating an outdoor classroom. I first
became involved with the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program
in 2002, really out of desperation after what I had just
described a little bit earlier with the previous contractors
that we had worked with. We started making phone calls
throughout the State of Oklahoma and that's when we found Terry
Dupris and Jontie Aldrich at the Oklahoma Partners for Fish and
Wildlife Service. They were able to provide us assistance and
training with our outdoor classroom. It was a dream our school
had. We really wanted to provide a hands-on learning
opportunity for our children. We were in desperate need, as I
said earlier, and the partners really came through for us by
coming up with a new design for our outdoor classroom. The
vision and the dream of a new outdoor classroom came into
reality because of their guidance. We feel it's very important
for our children to be involved in the outdoor classroom
because it will successfully educate young children on our
natural resources. The outdoor classroom provides the ideal
structured learning environment. The teachers and students have
taken ownership in our outdoor classroom. Every child at Deer
Creek Elementary School is involved in the outdoor habitat. For
example, our kindergarten has a bird sanctuary; our first grade
has a flower garden; our second grade has a butterfly garden in
the shape of a butterfly; third grade, a vegetable garden;
fourth grade, has a flower garden in the shape of Oklahoma and
there are flowers planted there that depicts our Oklahoma
history and our heritage; fifth grade has a bird blind and also
has a frog pond. Besides that, we have gazebos constructed with
help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We also have
wetlands, walkways with animal tracks, and artificial nesting
structures for wildlife. This outdoor habitat gives children an
interactive learning environment. I want to thank you, Senator
Inhofe, for supporting the Parters for Fish and Wildlife
Program. I am here on behalf of all of our children at Deer
Creek Elementary. I think the technical and financial
assistance of the Partners Program has helped turn our outdoor
classroom into a wonderful project. This is one government
program that truly benefits all. Children are our future and
environmental studies for children is disappearing.
Approximately 2 percent of our children now have an opportunity
to work in an outdoor classroom or learn about the environment
compared to the early 1900's where almost all children had an
opportunity to work the land or understand wildlife. Please
help us to continue the Partners for Wildlife programs so that
children can continue to explore and understand their
environment. Thank you.
Senator Inhofe. Thank you very much. Mr. Chervanka.
STATEMENT OF VERLENE CHERVANKA, PARTNERS PROGRAM PARTICIPANT,
SAYRE, OK
Mr. Chervanka. I want to thank you, Senator Inhofe, for
the invitation to testify at today's hearing. I'm Verlene
Chervanka and I own 1250 acres of property in southwest
Oklahoma near Sayre. As the video shows, I've been involved
with Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program with other
conservation programs for the last 6 years. I manage my entire
ranch for conservation of wildlife. Much of my property
operates as a cattle ranch. Another 250 acres is used for
raising wheat. Another part of my property contains natural gas
wells with more being planned. I have 315 acres dedicated
strictly for the conservation of wildlife. Through cost sharing
with the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture programs, I have invested time and
money in these acres that have reached great rewards. For
example, with the help and coordination of the Partners
Program, I have restored 40 acres of wetlands on my property.
Since that time, this 40 acres has become a refuge for many
waterfowl species, shorebirds and wetland birds. I've also had
an osprey that visits my wetland every spring, I guess on its
migration back north. This 40 acres didn't need to be
designated as a refuge by the Federal or State Governments. I
made this decision to create the refuge on my own property.
That is important to me and that is the kind of assistance that
the Partners Program provides. These conservation practices
have also turned my property into that sanctuary for wild
turkeys and deer as you see on the video.
Before my involvement in the Partners Program, it was rare
to find such game on my property. In fact, due to the success
of the Partners Program on my property, other ranchers in
southwest Oklahoma have been interested in starting their own
projects. I also want to testify--I also want to especially
thank the local Partners Program here in the Fish Wildlife
Service offices in Tulsa. I think it's very important to point
out that the success of this program in Oklahoma is due in
large part to the director of this program, Jontie Aldrich.
Jontie and his staff have done a great job in establishing a
great reputation for the Partners Program in Oklahoma. The
Partners team has worked hard to build a reputation of trust
between the private landowner and the Partners Program.
Landowners know that this program is about the Federal
Government coming in--is not about the Federal Government
coming in and telling you what you could do or can't do on your
own land. The Partners Program has developed a strong
reputation to help the private landowners to create habitat.
The program is appropriately named the Partners Program because
it is a real partnership of government and private landowners
working together. All states should have a great working
relationship with landowners in Oklahoma, as landowners in
Oklahoma have with the Partners Program. I can't compliment
Jontie Aldrich enough to administrate this program. Without him
it would never have been possible. Also I want to say that--
Jontie will probably verify this, like I mentioned earlier when
the Senator asked me that question about the government
programs, you know, you always get a little scared of
government programs, in fact you might be afraid of them, so
when Jontie came out and we got this program administered and
everything was ready to go, I said, ``Jontie, tell me for sure
what kind of red tape is involved, am I going to be in any
danger in any way in this program?'' He said, ``definitely
not.'' He made me feel real secure. He said, ``You're the man,
you're the caretaker of this program, and that's--that's what I
like.'' He convinced me and I convinced--tried to convince
everybody else. We have field days out at least once or twice a
year with other landowners that come out and see what's taking
place and I really appreciate it. Senator, I know you're a
great protector of this program and I want to thank you. Thank
you for your time.
Senator Inhofe. Thank you very much. We are--it's a joy to
do this, really. There are some things in my job that aren't
much fun, but this is. Let me just ask a couple of questions
here, things that will come up I'd like to have you folks put
in the record. I'll start with you, Mr. Neal. We know this is
completely voluntary. Have you found that the program in any
way limits your property rights?
Mr. Neal. No.
Senator Inhofe. How about any of the rest of you, any--I'd
like to get----
Mr. Chervanka. Absolutely not.
Mr. McKnight. No.
Senator Inhofe. Dr. Bidwell, I know you have personal
property.
Dr. Bidwell. (Shakes head.)
Mr. McKnight. Not at all.
Senator Inhofe. When you said that there's some things
when Jontie came along and they were putting this program
together, were there some things that you would not have
understood if it hadn't been for their technical advice and
help?
Mr. Chervanka. I wouldn't have understood them. I had
Jontie to explain them to me. One thing, you know, you kind of
hesitate because this was a big project, it took a long time to
complete it, you know, am I going to be allowed even on my own
place after we put these wetlands in, and he said, ``You're
going to be the guy running the property and you're going to be
the caretaker.'' I'll tell you, I am a caretaker and they come
out quite often to inspect it, which I'm really glad they do,
and I have other people come out, Jontie, if anybody ever wants
to come out to the place and inspect that, that's what we've
got to have.
Senator Inhofe. Yeah. Well, you know, you hear the
negative things. I was in a town hall meeting not too long ago
in Kingfisher----
Mr. Chervanka. I might say--mention one other thing,
Senator, and first I really got upset, you know, with CRP land.
I just didn't--I didn't fully understand and I've been in CRP
for 20 years. Well, they drilled a gas well on this CRP land
and I thought everything was taken care of and they knew that
everything was taken care of and the oil company said it was
all taken care of. Well, they drilled this well. Everything
went good and all of a sudden I get a real bad letter from the
government, you know, that I owed all this money back, that it
wasn't reported and I got fined, I don't know. How much was it?
Unidentified speaker. 1200.
Mr. Chervanka. How much?
Unidentified speaker. 1200.
Mr. Chervanka. A $1250 fine. It just made me feel bad.
Said if you declare bankruptcy, we're going to do all of this,
do all this, so I take it over to the USDA office. They said
it's just a formality letter, but, see, this is the kind of
deal that you get into and we got it straightened out, I paid
$1250, called the Chesapeake Oil Company and they claimed
they're going to refund that money to me.
Senator Inhofe. You know, I would tell a story, but it
wouldn't have--be very germane to this hearing, but when I said
that we are attempting to get--to have an attitudinal change in
bureaucracy, that's exactly what I'm talking about. I can
remember the EPA making people believe they're going to be
assessing fines on something on which they had no control.
That's the type of thing we're going to change and I think you
people are being very cooperative in this program.
Dr. Bidwell, I guess we should have started off by thanking
you. You're the one here representing Oklahoma State
University. We're using your facilities and we appreciate that
very much. You look at it from a landowner and also in your
relationship with Oklahoma State University. What types of
benefits can you see in terms of economic development would
come from this program?
Dr. Bidwell. One of the big issues in Oklahoma with the
Oklahoma legislature and the Governor has been the interest in
revitalizing rural communities throughout the State of
Oklahoma. One of the big areas that has tremendous potential is
recreational leasing, whether it be hunting and fishing. We
work with ranchers now in western Oklahoma and western Texas
who are doing bird watching trips and a number of other things
other than traditional land use that have greatly supplemented
their income. There are small rural communities now getting
together networks to form cooperatives, if you will, or ideas
that actually market this type of activity in western Oklahoma
in particular, but even in eastern Oklahoma, so that's a--
Partners Program has assisted landowners in developing areas
that are beneficial to not only their livestock and farming
operations, but also the secondary type of income and
recreational leasing and that's a story that maybe the Oklahoma
legislature hasn't heard of before as they probably need to
because we see good examples of that all over the State.
Senator Inhofe. I appreciate that. Ms. Straughn, you've
talked about your outdoor programs and your outdoor classrooms.
Walk us through one.
Ms. Straughn. Well, it is a place where not only children
go, but the teachers and also the parents. We have trails that
lead you down into the actual facility and along the trails you
see various varieties of trees. The children have made little
hand plaques that tell the variety of the trees, and then you
go to the various areas that every grade level has developed.
Every child has their hands in the soil. They're planting,
digging, and picking fruit and vegetables. You can walk through
the trails that take you through the wetlands area, then we
have a large area of trees. They're locust trees that children
can walk through a pathway. There's a bird blind in the trees
where children can actually observe birds. We also have a frog
pond. You can look at the tadpoles and watch as they become
frogs. Our outdoor clssroom also has an amphitheater where
children can do science experiments. They also put on plays.
There's a pavilion that our parents have built and they go
there for outdoor science lessons. We also have a bird
sanctuary where students can observe birds.
Senator Inhofe. Is this all on school property?
Ms. Straughn. It's all on school property. We actually had
a blank piece of land. We bought a new facility 3 years ago.
The only thing that was on the land were some locust trees in
the back. We got together as a school and we developed a vision
for a new outdoor classroom. We did a lot of research and
studying. We found that children just are not exposed to the
environment anymore. Houses are built so close together.
Families are moving away from the rural areas and we wanted our
children to have an opportunity to be part of the outdoor
environment. This is a dream come true.
Senator Inhofe. I found this really interesting. One of
the things that I have done since I've chaired this committee,
we discovered that there are discretionary grants that are
being sent out all the time from the EPA that are filling our
young kids' minds full of garbage science and things that just
aren't true and a lot of it comes from these far-left
environmentalist groups. You saw just last week that the
environmental liberation front actually fire-bombed a building,
they've killed people. These things are going on right now and
I contrast that with how you describe this program. I think--
John, I want you to schedule me to go by and see this. You
know, obviously the school, that's a State issue; however, I've
been looking for a Federal handle as an excuse to go in there
to get to see so I could go back with some alternatives to what
they're doing. By the way, we have stopped those discretionary
grants taking place, so I'll be by to see you.
Ms. Straughn. One thing, too, Senator Inhofe, is that as
you know, the No Child Left Behind Act, that everyone is
familiar with has, created an academic performance index score.
Every school in Oklahoma has to take certain kinds of State
tests that gives you an exit score. Our school, Deer Creek
Elementary School, if I could brag just a little bit, had the
highest API score out of every high school, middle school and
elementary in the whole State of Oklahoma last year. We were
No. 2 this year and I believe it's because of programs like our
outdoor classroom where children are learning at the highest
level. Our children are smiling while they're enjoying their
environment, they are also working together. That's what all
this is about. We have to learn to be team players and be able
to work alongside with each other.
Senator Inhofe. That's great. Something that would be good
for other schools to do, too. Mr. McKnight, have you found that
this Partners Program offers a meaningful incentive; in other
words, you'd be doing things you otherwise wouldn't do?
Mr. McKnight. Well, I was--it was trying to open a can
with a sledgehammer, a lot of the efforts that we were putting
forth just were not effective, and through the Partners
Program, which has been consistent, we started getting involved
with this in the early 1990's and this program has been right
on. It has been consistent. The information that we've been
able to gain from this and you start working with Mother Nature
and she will give you a score card. It may not be the one you
want, but we've learned a lot from our successes as well as
from our failures on this. But this program and being
administrated through U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been
consistent as the sunrise and I think that's one of the things
that we've talked about in this a lot and there's a degree of
paranoia when you go into a partnership with anything with the
United States starting the title of.
Senator Inhofe. Uh-huh.
Mr. McKnight. We have learned through our efforts that
there's really nothing to fear and it's definitely been a true
partnership. It's definitely been a win-win situation and we're
continuing to do this and a lot of the neighbors that were
concerned about what we were doing originally have become
partners themselves, so it's been a very successful experience.
To relate to some of what Debbie is saying, we still have inner
children in all of us and to go out and work the land and the
water and to see a difference, it's hard to explain that to
someone that hasn't shared that experience, and in Oklahoma 90
percent of the land is privately owned, so for this to move
forward, for us to restore habitats and wetlands, it does take
a partnership situation and there are moneys that come--about
approximately between 30 and 40 percent that comes from the
Government to fund this project, but we do not lose any of the
integrity of the private ownership that we have of our land,
plus there's a little of sweat equity involved. I've never seen
Jontie sweat, I don't know what the man does, but he is--he is
out there.
Senator Inhofe. Jontie, come down and sweat for us.
Mr. McKnight. He and the staff of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service have been extremely involved in helping us
troubleshoot situations and to go ahead and sometimes it seems
like, well, there's a risk worth taking and they have guided us
in ways we've all succeeded.
Senator Inhofe. Let me do something a little bit
irregular, we'll limit this, but Mrs. Paula Templeton with the
Wagoner Conservation District has also set up four outdoor
classrooms; is that correct?
Ms. Templeton. We have three.
Senator Inhofe. You have three others and do you want to
make a short statement?
Ms. Templeton. I wanted to make a short statement about the
staff. Ken Williams, Jontie, Terry Dupris, they get on their
knees and their hands and help you mud-in grass. They do
whatever they have to do to help you. We were met by doing
outdoor classrooms for different schools in Wagoner County and
I work for the Conservation District there. We would head up
like 10 learning stations and we would rotate the students
through, 200 at a time, and Mr. Aldrich came and talked to me
and said, ``You know, you ought to have an outdoor classroom
and keep these kids on school property so you don't have to bus
them, they're right here.'' I said, ``I don't even know what to
do.'' He said, ``I'll help you, because I'm just a secretary, a
plain Jane woman,'' but buddy he can teach you how to do the
job, and we built gazebos, we built the trails, but you know
the best part was, it wasn't just ``T'' and I, it was
communities and it was brought on by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service. It brought people that were just local citizens out to
do the job. It made a partnership with them and also working as
partners with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, I've
worked with him on Partners for Wildlife programs with our
farmers. Never have I had a bad comment. Schools are happy with
them and she will testify, too, that they don't come back to
the school and harass them and say, You have to do this, you
have to do that, they work with them on a one-on-one basis and
when we're through, we're through. I recommend you fund them
all the time. They're good people.
Senator Inhofe. OK.
Ms. Templeton. I just wanted to mention that to you.
They're good. Give it to them.
Senator Inhofe. All right. Well, let me--both Dr. Bidwell
and Ms. Straughn have talked about how this program has helped
kids. The other three of you have any experiences you could
share with us as to the benefits of young people from this
program?
Mr. McKnight. We've built--in central Oklahoma, we've
built several Partners Program called Eagle Ridge Institute and
we have a lot of inner-city kids from Oklahoma City to that
site to fish. Oklahoma Department of Wildlife has been very
helpful in that. A lot of kids that have never seen a fish,
never seen a fishing rod, the first thing you learn is you bend
the bars back on the hooks, but from that an entire area is
being basically directed to inner-city youth adjacent and
because of the catalyst of the Partners Program that we've been
able to put in there and there's--yeah, we're just scratching
the surface I think. Kids know a tremendous amount about
wildlife and about nature. You know, they just--they're hungry
to learn more and love to be a part of it. We've used them and
involved them in putting up wood duck boxes and goose nests.
They love to be part of that. That's where the future lies, so
this program certainly has a wonderful outreach to kids of all
ages.
Senator Inhofe. That's great. That's great. Any other
comments on that subject?
Ms. Straughn. I'd like to say one thing on that, too.
We've been having visitors from all over the country visit our
outdoor classroom. We even have schools from overseas, too
Jontie and Terry Dupris' have been a tremedous help to our
school. It's spreading to other States. There's even an outdoor
classroom in Germany. The presence of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, has made a tremedous impact. In fact, if you
have a chance to look at our PowerPoint presentation later, you
can see that children are actually interacting with the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
Senator Inhofe. OK. I have everything I need, but if
there's any one of the five of you who just really want to say
something else, this is your chance to do it.
Mr. Neal. I'd like to say it's trust. You know, we have to
trust these guys and you can trust them. I'd like to go back to
the moment I met Jontie Aldrich. I bought this piece of
property and I contacted Terry Bidwell. Terry was my first
person when I was excited, I had this dream property, Terry
came out, we sat in the car for 6 hours or something, and he
gave me the best advice of anybody, he said, ``Talk to all the
agencies, talk to everybody, learn the property and pick out
who you think has got their act together.'' I had many
different people out, local and from--in the area and from the
state and ``T'' came out and he said, ``Trust your fellow
man.'' He said, ``This is the greatest piece of property in the
State of Oklahoma,'' you can do so many great things with it,
but I'm in the hunting business and when you see a guy with a
badge come up, you expect, Can I see your hunting license, and
that's not the--that's not the situation here. This is a
marriage, a relationship, a partnership that does work and
these people will become the landowners' best friends. I just
can't say enough about putting funding towards it.
Dr. Bidwell. You didn't invite me back.
Mr. Neal. You stayed too long the first time.
Senator Inhofe. I guess 6 hours was long enough. Well,
anyway, thank you all five for coming today. We do have what we
need. We have--it's a program that we will pass through, it
will be expanded, it will be permanent and it will be
predictable, something you can put together. I want to thank
you and all of your people who have come from the Wildlife
Service as well as the landowners and my staff and appreciate
very much being a part of this. It's a good program and we're
going to make it work better. We're adjourned.
(Whereupon, the hearing was concluded.)
[Additional statements submitted for the record follow:]
Statement of Dale Hall, Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service
Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the
opportunity to discuss the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (Service)
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and S. 260, the Partners for
Fish and Wildlife Act. I am Dale Hall, Regional Director, Southwest
Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Service is the lead Federal agency responsible for conserving
and protecting the Nation's fish and wildlife resources. Throughout the
United States, the Service strives to fulfill this responsibility to
the American public through the establishment of innovative programs
that implement the Secretary of the Interior's four C's initiative
Conservation through communication, consultation, and cooperation.
The Service firmly supports the philosophy that by working
together, the Federal government and private landowners can achieve
tremendous success in habitat conservation. In August 2004, President
Bush signed an Executive Order on Cooperative Conservation asking all
agencies to strengthen their efforts to work together and with Tribes,
States, local governments, and landowners to achieve conservation
goals. The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program exemplifies the
Service's dedication to cooperative conservation and our commitment to
work with private landowners to further the country's conservation
goals while honoring individual rights. Many Partners Program projects
achieve conservation goals alongside ongoing, productive economic
activities. Through these efforts, the Service helps the Nation achieve
and maintain healthy lands and waters, thriving communities, and
dynamic economies.
The Service has long recognized that successful protection of many
fish and wildlife species depends significantly on the protection and
management of habitat. The vast majority of this habitat is in private
ownership. It is, therefore, imperative that the Service look for
opportunities to partner with private landowners to protect species and
enhance their habitat on private lands. Such cooperative conservation
provides opportunities to enhance habitat while maintaining private
property rights; it also engages the public in private stewardship.
Because restored habitats provide important food, cover, and water,
this strategy can contribute to the Service's mission to conserve trust
species such as migratory birds and inter-jurisdictional native fish,
threatened and endangered species, and to control and reduce the spread
of invasive species.
To help achieve these goals, in 1987 the Service established the
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program (Partners Program) under the
broad authority of the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act and the Fish
and Wildlife Act of 1956. The Partners Program is a voluntary habitat
restoration program that recognizes the long-standing and strong
natural resources stewardship ethic present in many private landowners.
The Partners Program helps these landowners restore wetlands and other
important habitat on their lands. Through the program, the Service is
able to fund on-the-ground projects that enhance, restore, or protect
wildlife habitat.
The program also leverages funds, working to maximize the benefits
and minimize the costs for projects. On average, the Service succeeds
in leveraging Service resources against non-Service resources by a 2-
to-1 match ratio. Over the past 16 years, almost 35,000 agreements with
landowners have been completed. The resulting partnerships between the
Service and private landowners have resulted in the protection,
restoration, and enhancement of nearly 2.5 million acres of private and
tribal habitat nationwide.
In Oklahoma, the Partners Program has experienced tremendous
success. Since 1990, the Service has initiated 684 projects on over
128,000 acres of private land. This includes 14,400 wetland acres,
82,600 grassland acres, 1,300 woodland and shrubland acres, 25,100
acres of other habitat, and 236 riparian stream miles. Furthermore,
Partners Program funds have created over 100 outdoor education
classrooms on school campuses that will provide future generations of
Americans with hands-on experience working with the land and wildlife.
The cooperative conservation fostered by these projects has
benefited not only fish and wildlife species, but also local
communities in Oklahoma. For example, at the Deep Fork Ranch owned by
Robert Baker, 400 acres of wetlands have been enhanced, restored and
protected using Partners Program funds. These restored wetlands provide
optimum migrating, wintering, and breeding habitat for waterfowl,
shorebirds, wading birds and other wetland dependent wildlife species,
as well as essential habitat for many neotropical birds. Since these
restoration activities were completed at Deep Fork Ranch, the area's
biodiversity has dramatically increased, and Mr. Baker and neighboring
landowners have benefited as well. The Deep Fork River community has a
long history of damaging floods caused, in part, by past land use
practices in the watershed. However, Mr. Baker's project has increased
the water-holding capacity of the land and will help reduce water
volume and velocity on neighboring properties when flooding events
occur in the future.
The Administration evaluated the Partners Program for the FY 2004
budget through the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART). The PART
analysis found that the program was optimally designed to encourage
habitat restoration and conservation on private lands and is achieving
annual performance goals directed at benefiting fish and wildlife
resources. The PART acknowledged the lack of specific authorization for
the program, identified general authority for the program, and
consensus among the interested partners on the program's purpose.
S. 260, the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Act, would codify the
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program. Because of the tremendous
success of the program in working with private landowners to conduct
cost-effective habitat projects for the benefit of fish and wildlife
resources in the United States, the Administration supports this
legislation. However, to ensure that the program retain its present
character and flexibility to work with private landowners and to be
consistent with the President's Budget, the Service would like the
opportunity to work with the Committee to make technical changes to the
bill.
In summary, the Service is lead Federal agency responsible for
conserving and protecting the Nation's fish and wildlife resources. The
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program is a voluntary, incentive-based
habitat restoration program focusing on private and tribal lands that
utilizes an innovative approach to further cooperative conservation
throughout the country. The Service is encouraged that Congress is also
committed to cooperative conservation and support the Partners Program.
As a Federal agency, we will continue to strive to fulfill our
responsibility to the American people to protect and conserve our
nation's public resources. We continue to recognize that our success is
tied to our ability to work with others in the name of conservation
including private landowners.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement on the Service's Partners
for Fish and Wildlife Program and S. 260. I would be happy to answer
any questions you or the other Members of the Committee might have.
______
Statement of Jeff Neal, Partners Participant from Indianola, OK
Good afternoon Senator, thank you for the opportunity to discuss my
involvement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish
and Wildlife Program.
I first became involved with the Partners for Fish and Wildlife
Program in 2001. My wife, Jennifer, and I purchased a 1,200 acre ranch
along a five mile stretch of the South Canadian River. The Neal Ranch
is located in Pittsburgh County along the South Canadian River. Our
property is located just to the west of Lake Eufaula, Oklahoma's
largest reservoir.
After we purchased the land we needed a lot of technical assistance
to maximize our land for wildlife. I contacted the Partners for Fish
and Wildlife officials in Tulsa.
They have worked with me by providing the technical assistance,
advised me of other state and federal conservation programs and
provided cost-share funding for wetland restoration and native grass
restoration. Without Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, it would
not be as productive for my family needs and the wildlife resource that
now lives on my ranch.
Our restored and enhanced wetlands have increased the biodiversity
for waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds and other wetland dependent
wildlife species. We see river otters frequently and have a pair of
nesting Bald Eagles and a good population of endangered Least Terns
nesting on the Canadian River.
When we purchased the property it had 250 cows grazing, therefore,
it was eroded and damaged by the cattle and their unsupervised grazing.
We got the cows off and immediately began working with the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service Partners Program. During the first 2 years we
owned the property, we rarely saw evidence of much wildlife.
Since the Partners Program has assisted with the development of the
dikes and the planting of a 120 acre native grass area, we now see a
lot of deer, turkey, quail, but most plentifully waterfowl and
shorebirds.
For instance, I arrived at the ranch last Friday, April 15, 2005 at
5:00 p.m. and by 5:30 I had seen over 300 teal, Geese, 20 to 30
American white Pelicans, a herd of deer and two flocks of turkey.
Before the help of the Partners program the areas that now hold
these species were beat down and over grazed fields.
Conservation, preservation and maintaining habitat for wildlife
isn't something new to me. I have enjoyed a career of 30 years in the
international hunting industry and have had the opportunity to witness
all kinds of lands worldwide that maintain populations of wildlife.
My belief is if we don't create habitat and maintain it there will
be no future in America for our wildlife. As human population soars,
animals lose.
As I have witnessed in most of the African and European countries
that still has wild and unfenced wildlife, the only reason they have
this is because they have provided good habitat, food source and, most
of all, good supervision. When I mention supervision I am referring to
private land that is controlled by someone such as in the U.S. it would
more than likely be the land owner.
We must create habitat for wildlife and protect it, and with a
partnership between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's Partners Program and
the landowner it's a Win - Win situation.
Thank you.
______
Statement of Terry Bidwell, Partners Participant, Wildlife Biologist,
and Professor, Oklahoma State University
Three of our four sets of grandparents were homesteaders in
Oklahoma. Thus we have been involved in agriculture and land management
for many years. Our family has been a cooperator with the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program for about 10
years. This Program has helped us develop 3 wetlands on riparian zones
in 213 acres of tallgrass prairie. Cattle are excluded by fencing from
these wetlands to maintain water quality (reduced turbidity), provide
nesting cover for resident waterfowl, and provide a fall/winter/spring
food source for migrating waterfowl and other wildlife. The water
control structures on these wetlands allow us to change the water level
to facilitate the growth of plants that benefit both fish and wildlife.
Freeze-proof stock tanks installed below these wetlands provide a
dependable source of high quality water for cattle (no water born
diseases or liver flukes) and eliminates the need for chopping ice
during cold weather.
Over the years, this project has been greatly enjoyed by our family
and others. We have hosted public school groups for conservation
education and our Boy Scout troop camps around these projects monthly.
We have also hosted Quail Unlimited Field days and cattlemen's tours on
the value of the Partner's Program to landowners. The Partners Program
is not only valuable to fish and wildlife habitat management but also
contributes to rural economic development and diversification for
ranching and farming enterprises by increasing landowner's ability to
lease for recreation.
For the past 31 years I have worked with private land owners as a
consultant in rangeland and forestland management with an emphasis in
restoration of native plant communities for integration of wildlife and
livestock enterprises. For the past 25 years I have worked for Oklahoma
State University in research and extension targeting the needs of
private landowners. Habitat for wildlife and livestock can be mutually
beneficial as demonstrated on many farms and ranches in Oklahoma and
elsewhere throughout the country. The Partners Program is an integral
part of natural resource initiatives that benefit private lands and
environmental quality. The Partners Program is complementary to other
private, State, and Federal programs that help landowners plan,
implement, and maintain conservation practices on their land.
______
Statement of Hal McKnight, Partners Participant from Duncan, OK
My name is Hal McKnight. For my entire life I have held one dream
above all others. That dream has been to improve and restore habitat.
This dream has come true because of the Partners for Fish and Wildlife
Program.
We started working with Johntie Aldrich from the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service in the 1990's on land that has been in our family for
5 generations. Many neighbors thought I had lost my mind when we
created wetlands across prime grazing land in Southern Oklahoma. Over
200 acres of wetland projects have proven their profound effects.
Creation of these projects has greatly benefited our cattle operation
by spreading out both available water and grazing. Additionally,
strategically placed wetlands prevent soil erosion.
Kevin Costner in the movie ``A Field of Dreams'' stated, ``Build it
and they will come.'' Unfortunately, not one dead baseball player has
appeared at our sites, but countless species of waterfowl and wildlife
have.
We have lost half the wetlands in the United States since 1950.
Loss of habitat has resulted in a doubling of species placed on the
Endangered and Threatened Lists.
The Partners Program is a bright burning star in this darkness.
It's a wonderful government program. A true volunteer partnership
program that works very well, except for one thing.
The one thing this program lacks is annual funding. If this can be
obtained everyone involved will feel like they just won the lottery!
Our wetland projects have received both local and national
attention. In 1994, I was greatly honored to receive the National
Wetlands Conservation Award to the private sector. Local awards have
included recognition from the Oklahoma Wildlife Federation.
Several documentary films and large publications have featured our
wetlands. Readers Digest in 1999 did an article called Champions of the
Wild on our sites.
A photographer was dispatched from Los Angeles to take my picture
for the article. She asked me to stand in a marsh holding a saddle over
one shoulder and a shovel over the other and to look `stoic'.
Half of the responses concerned wetland and half inquired about
stud service, exclusively about Hawk, my Lab.
In all seriousness, public awareness for the Partners Program is
essential. Part of that responsibility is owned by cooperates like
myself.
There are zillions of people that, like myself, wish to be good
stewards of lands and water. The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program
allow that to happen. It has been a true privilege to be a cooperator
in the Partners Program.
I greatly appreciate the time and effort of Johntie Aldrich and
everyone at the Tulsa office of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
I hold deep gratitude for the champions of this program. Senator
Jim Inhoff is one such champion In part because the Senator understands
the program and the need for annual funding.
Thank you.
______
Statement of Debbie Straughn, Principal, Deer Creek Elementary School
Edmond, OK
Good afternoon Senator, thank you for the opportunity to discuss my
involvement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish
and Wildlife Program.
I am the principal at the Deer Creek Elementary School, which is
located in Edmond, Oklahoma. I first became involve with the Partners
for Fish and Wildlife Program in 2002, when I contacted Terry Dupree
and Johntie Aldrich of the Oklahoma Partners for Fish and Wildlife
Program for assistance with my school's Outdoor Classroom. We had
contracted with a private vendor to develop a wetland, but it turned
out to be a disaster and a liability. We were desperately in need of
assistance and the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program came to our
aid and provided funding and a new wetland design.
To successfully educate young people on our natural resources,
Outdoor Classrooms provide the ideal structured learning environment.
The teachers and students have taken ownership in our Outdoor
Classroom. Our Outdoor Classroom features a gazebo, walkways with
animal tracks, artificial nesting structures for wildlife, provides
wildlife habitat and provides a interpretive and interactive learning
environment.
I want to thank you Senator Inhofe, for supporting the Partners for
Fish and Wildlife Program. I think the technical and financial
assistance of the Partner's Program has helped turn our Outdoor
Classroom into a wonderful project. This is ``one'' government program
that truly benefits all.
______
Statement of Verlene Chervanka, Partners Participant, Wildlife
Biologist, and Professor, Oklahoma State University
Good afternoon and thank you Senator Inhofe for the invitation to
testify at today's hearing. I am Verlene Chervanka, and own 1,250 acres
of property in northwestern Oklahoma near the Sayre, Oklahoma. As the
video indicated, I've been involved with the Partners for Fish and
Wildlife Program with other conservation programs for the last 6 years.
I manage my entire ranch for conservation and wildlife. Much of my
property operates as a cattle ranch. Another two hundred fifty acres is
used for raising wheat. Another part of the property contains natural
gas wells with more being planned. I have 315 acres that is dedicated
strictly for conservation and wildlife.
Through cost-sharing with the Partners for Fish and Wildlife
Program and U.S. Department of Agriculture programs I have invested
time and money in these acres and have reaped great rewards. For
example, with help and coordination through the Partners Program I have
restored 40 acres of wetlands on my property. Since that time this 40
acres has become a refuge for many waterfowl species, shorebirds and
wading birds. I also have an osprey that visits my wetland every
spring, I guess on its migration back north This 40 acres didn't need
to be designated a refuge by the federal or state government. I made
the decision to create a refuge on my own property. That is important
to me, and that's the kind of assistance that the Partners Program
provides. These conservation practices have also turned my property
into a sanctuary for wild turkey, as you saw in the video, and deer.
Before my involvement in the Partners Program it was rare to find such
game at all on my property. In fact, due to the success of the Partners
Program on my property, other ranchers in Northwest Oklahoma have
become interested and started their own projects.
I also want to especially thank the local Partners Program here in
the Fish and Wildlife Service Office in Tulsa. I think it is very
important to point out that the success of this program in Oklahoma is
due in large part to the director of the Program, Jontie Aldrich.
Jontie and his staff has done a great job in establishing a great
reputation for the Partners Program in Oklahoma. The Partners team has
worked hard to build a reputation of trust between the private
landowners and the Partners Program. Landowners know that this Program
is not about the federal government coming in and telling you what you
can and can't do on your own land. The Partners Program has developed a
strong reputation of helping private landowners create habitat. The
Program is appropriately named the Partners Program because it is a
real partnership of government and private landowners working together.
All states should have the great working relationship landowners in
Oklahoma have with our Partners Program. I cannot compliment Jontie
enough for his work.
______
Statement of Andrew B. McDaniels, Executive Director, Oklahoma
Wildlife Federation
On behalf of the thousands of members and supporters of the
Oklahoma Wildlife Federation (OWF), I would like to take this
opportunity to thank Chairman Inhofe and Committee members for the
opportunity to submit written testimony on the Partners for Fish and
Wildlife Act (S. 260). I would also like to express our deepest thanks
to Chairman Inhofe for introducing this legislation.
The OWF recognizes the tremendous importance that this legislation
will have for hunters, anglers and outdoor enthusiasts in the United
States and particularly in Oklahoma and for the future of wildlife.
As Chairman Inhofe has stated, since 1987, the Partners Program has
been a successful voluntary partnership program that helps private
landowners restore fish and wildlife habitat on their own lands.
Through 33,103 agreements with private landowners, the Partners Program
has accomplished the restoration of 677,000 acres of wetlands,
1,253,700 acres of prairie and native grasslands, and 5,560 miles of
riparian and in-stream habitat.
We also know how popular the Partners Programs has been with
sportsmen and women. In a nationwide poll conducted by the National
Wildlife Federation by the Republican firm Bellwether Research last
June, 87% of America's hunters and anglers said they favored efforts to
expand the Partners for Fish and Wildlife program.
OWF also understands that the future of wildlife conservation in
states like Oklahoma, where there is very little public land, lies in
our ability to successfully partner with private landowners. We know
from experience that a majority of private landowners, ranchers and
farmers, have a strong conservation ethic and they consider themselves
good stewards of the land. Therefore, providing financial assistance to
private landowners to restore, enhance, and manage private land to
improve fish and wildlife habitats through this legislation is
something that the Wildlife Federation in Oklahoma strongly endorses.
Again, we highly commend the proposed legislation. This highly
successful program does deserve its own, clear congressional
authorization to ensure that it will not be subject to the changing
whims of the political climate.
The OWF is Oklahomans oldest conservation organization. For 55
years we have been the voice of sportsmen and outdoor enthusiasts in
Oklahoma. OWF is also the state affiliate of the National Wildlife
Federation, which is the largest conservation organization in the
United States, with over 4 million members and supporters. The mission
of the National Wildlife Federation is to inspire Americans to protect
wildlife for our childrens future.
Thank you for your consideration of this testimony.
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