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StumbleFeds offering millions to ranchers to help sage grouse bird
AP Photo/Rawlins Daily Times, Jerret Raffety
In this Friday, May 9, 2008 file photo, male sage grouse fight for the attention of female sage grouse on a mating ground, southwest of Rawlins, Wyo. Federal wildlife officials are readying to make a recommendation about pursuing endangered species status for sage grouse, a chicken-sized bird that lives in 11 states.
Friday, March 12, 2010 | 3:17 p.m.
Sun Coverage
- It’s man vs. bird in quest for power (3-6-10)
Ranchers across the west are being offered millions of dollars in aid from the federal government to make their operations more environmentally sustainable and reduce their impact on the sage grouse the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today.
"USDA will take bold steps to ensure the enhancement and preservation of sage grouse habitat and the sustainability of working ranches and farms in the western United States," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. "Our targeted approach will seek out projects that offer the highest potential for boosting sage-grouse populations and enhancing habitat quality."
The Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service will soon begin accepting applications for two federal programs aimed at reducing threats to the birds such as disease and invasive species and improving sage-grouse habitat. The agency will have up to $16 million at its disposal for the programs.
The Wilderness Habitat Incentive Program provides up to 75 percent cost-share assistance to create and improve fish and wildlife habitat on private and tribal land.
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program provides up to 75 percent of the cost and loss of income from implementing approved conservation practices. Some historically underserved applicants (limited resource farmers/ranchers, beginning farmers/ranchers, socially disadvantaged applicants) may be eligible for payments up to 90 percent of the cost and loss of income.
These programs will help USDA to meet its conservation goals and and help state agencies responsible for managing sage grouse populations preserve and maintain key habitat.
Ranchers and land owners who enroll in the programs will receive some protection from increased regulation, should the sage grouse be listed under the Endangered Species Act in the future. Applications will be accepted through April 23.
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The lady lining up for part of Obama's stash last year was correct. Obama seems to have all kinds of money stashed to spread around as the elections near.
In the old Chicago style they will try to buy votes for harry here in Nevada. What a group this has turned out to be.
Wow! Is that the Government again.
keep the money and put up some wind turbines and create some jobs, sell the electricity to feed those that are not working.
And while you're putting up all those Wind Turbines; please don't forget the OHVer's.
I'm speechless. All this unemployment etc. Totally INSANE!
Simply government run amok.
This is what a large portion of the so-called Stimulus is going for: pure, old-fashioned political bribes.
Of note in this is that the money can only be used on Private property. All of Nevada's Sage Grouse habitat is on non-private lands. 87 percent of the state of Nevada is non-private. The only purpose of the Endangered Species act is to extort money and buy votes.
87 percnt federal is the reason the feds are trying to go the private land route. This way, Mr. Obama can rape most of the west with his soon to be failed solar and wind economy. In Nevada, they don't have to spend hardly anything on private land! Great job, Harry Reid! Rape the public lands for a plan that ran out of steam about 20 years ago! Why do wind developers need federal land and stimulus money? Because the low energy output of their projects would make buying their own land unprofitable...and as we all know, the democraps don't really care about global warming or endangered species, they are trying to create a Wall Street bubble. (while they blow the tops off of mountains for coal and drill for oil off shore) The problem is, if industrial green energy were profitable, they would have done it years ago. Nobody ever cared about Nevada's open spaces enough to prevent this kind of development. It will never work because it is too expensive. Obama's green BS is already a dinosaur. Going green with distributed generation was the only economic option. How many of you voted democrat becuse you thought they cared about the environment? LOL!
The democrats have pretty much insured a future of Republican dictatorship in poilitics...
How much money do you think the Obama Adminstration would save if they made the wind, geothermal and solar developers pay this money to the land owners. A lot! Who pays this to the land owners? The tax payers in the most hammered economy in recent history. So we get to bail out the renewable industry that seems to be already failing. Why failing? Because they are already bailing them out before they are built! Hello! With all the loan garuntees, we are bailing them out before they even start!
Perhaps Harry Reid wants to lose the election. Either that or Mr. Obama is forcing Reid to go down with inexperience and basic incompetence...
This is exactly how the government gets people dependant on them. I've seen this happen all across the mid-west; paying farmers not to produce. Where do people think this ends up? How can we afford to pay people not to use their land in a productive manner? Only deranged liberals see this as a good thing. My goodness people we have got to wake up to this massive intrusion by the government on the people.