The Value of Wetlands

As Prepared for Delivery
Remarks by Bruce I. Knight, Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service, at Corpus Christi Botanical Gardens

Corpus Christi, Texas
May 24, 2005


Introduction

Thank you, Larry (Butler).

I appreciate the opportunity to join you, Liz (Smith), Rex (Kinneson), Michael (Womack) and John (Freeman) to celebrate the first NRCS-designed wetland project in Nueces County.

I’m especially proud of this project because it represents the best in cooperative conservation—multiple groups working together to create wetlands here along Oso Creek. Thanks to all of our partners:

• Texas Prairie Wetlands
• Texas General Land Office/Coastal Management Program
• Texas Parks & Wildlife
• Texas Fish & Wildlife Service
• Ducks Unlimited
• Center for Coastal Studies
• Texas Cooperative Extension Service, and
• Corpus Christi Botanical Gardens & Nature Center.

Thanks also to those who’ve worked with our Kika De La Garza facility to make vegetative plantings and helped with water quality studies. Working together, we have transformed an unsightly waste area into a beautiful, productive wetland.

Corpus Christi Botanical Gardens

It’s great to be at your beautiful gardens during American Wetlands Month to see firsthand the difference that conservation can make in preserving and restoring wetlands:

• For the reptiles waterfowl and other birds who live here
• For the biology students who can study ecosystems here, and
• For groups that will study water quality and observe the benefits of plants as a filtering system.

Progress on Wetlands

Across our nation, we are making significant progress together in restoring, enhancing and protecting wetlands. Let me briefly recount a bit about our journey.

A year ago, the Secretary of Agriculture announced that we’d reached a milestone in preserving wetlands—no net loss due to agriculture. That was good news.

Achieving this goal is a tribute to efforts by landowners, partners and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. It demonstrates that voluntary conservation is an effective strategy for protecting the environment in ways that benefit us all.

Increasing Wetlands

But halting the loss of wetlands is a starting point rather than an endpoint. Last year on Earth Day, President Bush made an historic commitment to move beyond no net loss to true gains.

He promised that we would improve, protect and restore 3 million acres of America’s wetlands over the next five years. He pledged the government’s support for providing habitat for millions of birds and fish.

President Bush spoke of a vision to “set streams back on their natural courses, allowing wetlands to return.” He voiced his support for providing “incentives to our farmers and ranchers to stop cultivating areas that were once wetlands and make them wetlands again.”

And I am very pleased to tell you that our nation has made substantial progress in fulfilling the President’s promise. In just the past 12 months, more than 832,000 acres of wetlands have been restored, created, protected and improved. And we project that more than 1.6 million additional acres will be restored, improved or protected from now through 2006. That equals 80 percent of the President’s goal.

On Earth Day this year, he said, “ … We didn’t create this Earth but we have an obligation to protect it….It’s possible to have economic growth and jobs and opportunity, and at the same time, be wise stewards of the land.…I thought we needed to be more aggressive on wetlands. And so the new goal is to restore, improve or protect 3 million acres of land…We’re well on our way to meeting that goal and that’s good for the country.”

We are particularly pleased that in just the past year nearly 310,000 acres of wetlands have been restored, enhanced or protected through USDA programs.

NRCS has been a partner in conservation since 1935—helping people help the land. This year NRCS is celebrating its 70th anniversary of fostering conservation on working lands—scientifically based, locally led, voluntary conservation.

Wetlands Reserve Program

The Wetlands Reserve Program is the primary program for helping landowners protect, restore and enhance wetlands on their property. With the help of this program, we have restored more than 1.6 million acres of wetlands since 1991.

Fifty years ago, we were losing nearly 600,000 acres of wetlands every year. Today, we’re seeing the net gains the President promised in 2004.

In just the past 12 months, NRCS has worked with partners to create, restore or protect nearly 240,000 acres under WRP. In addition, with the help of NRCS Conservation Technical Assistance, farmers and ranchers have restored, enhanced or protected an additional 50,000 acres.

In 2004, NRCS invested more than $240 million in WRP assistance at 1,035 sites. The 2002 farm bill authorizes NRCS to enroll up to 250,000 acres per year in WRP—and we are eager to meet that challenge.

Wetland Benefits

It’s clear that wetlands offer many benefits. They:

• Are biologically diverse and dynamic ecosystems that support a wide variety of wildlife, plants, and fish;

• Provide habitat for many of the nation’s endangered and threatened species;

• Help protect water quality by filtering out pollutants;

• Provide natural flood control by absorbing excess water;

• Buffer coastal areas from erosion; and

• Offer aesthetic and recreational opportunities.

The President’s goal will stretch us all. Re-establishing 3 million acres of wetlands will require hard work on the part of everyone who values these natural resources.

Cooperative Conservation

Meeting the challenge to build and improve wetlands calls for cooperation. Last August, President Bush signed an Executive Order on Cooperative Conservation, asking Federal agencies to work in partnership with the American people to protect this Nation’s environment.

The best conservation and environmental improvements result when landowners and communities work together. We support this culture of responsibility and respect private landowners by being good neighbors and good environmental partners.

Last month, the White House announced that it will host a Cooperative Conservation Conference, August 29-31 in St. Louis. The goal is to facilitate the exchange of information and advice on ways we can work together—at all levels of government—in concert with communities and landowners to enhance and protect the environment.

NRCS will be part of that conference—as will other USDA agencies—and other departments including Interior, Defense, Commerce and EPA. Most importantly, our customers will be part of this conference.

This is the first cooperative conservation conference in about 40 years. Only three similar national conferences have been held--

President Teddy Roosevelt held the first.

President John Kennedy held the second.

And Lady Bird Johnson, President Lyndon Johnson’s wife, hosted the third.

We are looking forward to this conference as a special opportunity to foster relationships and forge alliances that will enable us to move forward in voluntary conservation activities.

Conclusion

I’d like to challenge each of us to do more to protect and conserve the rich land we live in—wherever we are and whatever our circumstances. As NRCS celebrates 70 years as a conservation partner, we know that

• our nation’s air is cleaner,
• our water is more pure,
• and our lands and natural resources are in much better shape.

These improvements are thanks in part to Federal conservation and environmental programs. Stewardship is an ongoing, evolving process of caring for the natural resources entrusted to us.
We want to maintain and improve our environment.

NRCS is committed to strengthening and improving the quality of life on our Nation’s working lands. We pledge to continue our partnership with private landowners to provide the environmental benefits that we all enjoy.
 

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