Salazar and Allard Team Up to Help Farmers & Ranchers Protect Endangered Plants & Animals

WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Senators Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard co-sponsored legislation today to provide financial incentives for private landowners, including farmers and ranchers, to help save endangered plants and animals.

The bipartisan bill would provide $400 million annually in new tax credits and offer deductions and exclusions to farmers and ranchers who take steps to help endangered or threatened species on the properties they own. Species that could be protected in Colorado include: the black-footed ferret, the southwestern willow fly-catcher, the green back cutthroat trout and the whooping crane, among others.

“Farmers and ranchers are the original conservationists. They know best the habitat needs of many of our threatened species because they live and work on the same lands,” said Senator Ken Salazar. “It makes sense to provide farmers, ranchers and other landowners the tools they need to maintain portions of their land for our endangered plants and animals.”

“Two years ago, I became a charter member of a bipartisan working group here in the Senate to develop legislation to improve the Endangered Species Act – today’s bill is the culmination of that effort. We have worked in a bipartisan manner on meaningful improvements over the past two years to develop this legislation,” said Allard. “The Endangered Species Act has been around for 30 years. In that time, 1,300 species have been listed, but only seven have been recovered. We can do better. We have seen what works and what doesn’t work. And we know we get better results if we work with land owners on recovery instead of against them.”

This bipartisan proposal allows eligible taxpaying landowners to receive a tax credit if they own habitat or incur costs to recover endangered plants and animals if they have a perpetual conservation easement, 30-year conservation easement or an agreement for a specified period of time qualified agreement.

Landowners who incur costs pursuant to a qualified agreement will earn tax credits, which may be carried forward to subsequent years, equal to:

• 100 percent of fair market value of perpetual easements and management costs;
• 75 percent of fair market value of 30-year easements and management costs; or
• 50 percent of management costs incurred due to agreements for a specified period of time.

Some of the groups supporting the bill include: Ducks Unlimited, the Mule Deer Foundation, Pheasants Forever, National Wildlife Federation and the National Endangered Species Act Reform Coalition (NESARC) (includes Farm Bureau, Public Lands Council/Cattlemen, and National Stone, Sand, and Gravel Association which have presented individual letters of support).

The bill’s other sponsors are Senators Crapo (R-ID), Baucus (D-MT), Bennett (R-UT), Brownback (R-KS), Cochran (R-MS), Collins (R-ME), Craig (R-ID), Enzi (R-WY), Grassley (R-IA), Lieberman (I-CT), Lincoln (D-AR), Nelson (D-NE), Pryor (D-AR), Reid (D-NV), and Smith (R-OR).