Grousing? How Many Gov't Agencies - Paying Farmers, Ranchers $112M to Protect Bird Too Numerous to be Threatened

Try to figure out how many Government Departments, Programs and Services are attached to this waste of money.

Gov't Paying Farmers, Ranchers $112M to Protect Bird Too Numerous to be Threatened | CNSnews.com

August 19, 2011 By Tierney Smith

(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is paying $112 million in tax money to farmers and ranchers in 11 Western states to restore the habitat of the Sage Grouse, a bird that has not been listed as either threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species law because the government says there are too many of them.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced last week that the USDA would dedicate $21.8 million to pay eligible ranchers and farmers in the state of Wyoming to encourage conservation practices that preserve the numbers of Sage Grouse.

That will bring to $112 million the total amount that the USDA has distributed over the last two years to eligible farmers and ranchers in 11 states as part of its Sage Grouse Initiative.

“Working with the Department of Interior,...

...The money is being paid to landowners through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program,

the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program,

Wetlands Reserve Program,

Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program and the

Grassland Reserve Program.

...Environmental groups have been petitioning the Interior Department’s

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ...

“Based on accumulated scientific data and new peer-reviewed information and analysis, the greater Sage-Grouse warrants the protection of the Endangered Species Act but that listing the species at this time is precluded by the need to address higher priority species first. The greaterSage-Grouse will be placed on the candidate list for future action, meaning the species would not receive statutory protection under the ESA and states would continue to be responsible for managing the bird.”

...Federal Register , state-regulated hunting of sage grouse is permitted in all but one state, Washington.

Chuck Cushman, executive director of the American Land Rights Association, told CNSNews.com that land owners would welcome the USDA money...

Rick Krause, senior director of congressional relations at the American Farm Bureau Federation, said as long as the effort remains voluntary, it has Farm Bureau endorsement.

The Interior Department and the Commerce Department are actually responsible for placing species on the Endangered Species List, but the USDA manages much of the federally protected land in the United States.