Page 257 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

1849, 1850, and 1860. The government transferred over
24 million ha (60 million acres) of wetlands to state owner-
ship (and eventually to private hands) to stimulate drainage,
conversion, and flood control. In the Mississippi River valley,
the Midwest, and a handful of states from Florida to Oregon,
these transfers eradicated malaria (a disease transmitted
by mosquitoes, which breed in wetlands) and created over
10 million ha (25 million acres) of new farmland. A U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) program in 1940 provided
funding and technical assistance to farmers draining wetlands
on their property, resulting in the conversion of almost
23 million ha (57 million acres).
Today we have a new view of wetlands. Rather than
viewing them as worthless swamps, science has made clear
that they are valuable ecosystems that provide wildlife habi-
tat, improve water quality, control flooding, and recharge
water supplies (Chapter 15). This scientific knowledge, along
with the spread of a preservation ethic, has persuaded poli-
cymakers to develop regulations intended to safeguard our
Figure 9.26 Most of North America’s wetlands have been
drained and filled, and the land converted to agriculture. The remaining wetlands. However, because of loopholes, differ-
northern Great Plains are pockmarked with thousands of “prairie ing state laws, development pressures, and debate over the
potholes,” water-filled depressions that provide breeding habitat for legal definition of wetlands, many of these vital ecosystems
most of the continent’s waterfowl. Shown are farmlands encroach- are still being lost.
ing on prairie potholes in North Dakota. In current U.S. policy, financial incentives are being
used as a means to protect wetlands and influence agricul-
tural land use. Under the Wetlands Reserve Program, the
U.S. government offers payments to landowners who pro-
tect, restore, or enhance wetland areas on their property.
Ranchers in the United States also benefit from govern-
ment subsidies. Most U.S. rangeland is federally owned and Over 2 million acres are currently enrolled in this program
managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The nationwide. The Wetlands Reserve Program is one of 15 con-
BLM is the nation’s largest landowner, with over 100 million servation programs funded by the U.S. Congress in the latest
ha (248 million acres), mostly in 12 western states (see Fig- farm bill legislation.
ure 12.10, p. 334). Ranchers are allowed to graze livestock on
BLM lands for inexpensive fees; a grazing permit in 2013 was A number of programs promote
just $1.35 per month per “animal unit” (one horse, one cow soil conservation
plus calf, five sheep, or five goats). Such low fees can encour-
age overgrazing and the degradation of grazing land through Every five to six years, the U.S. Congress passes compre-
the tragedy of the commons scenario. hensive legislation that guides agricultural policy. The 2008
For this reason, ranchers and environmentalists have “farm bill” funded 15 programs (such as the Wetlands Reserve
traditionally been at loggerheads. In recent years, however, Program) that encourage the conservation of soil, grasslands,
some ranchers and environmentalists have been teaming up wetlands, wildlife habitat, and other natural resources on
to preserve ranchland against what each of them views as a agricultural lands. Altogether these conservation programs
common threat—the encroaching housing developments of received nearly 9% of the $288 billion budgeted in the bill.
suburban sprawl (pp. 357–360). Although developers often Many of the provisions promoting soil conservation require
pay high prices for ranchland, many ranchers do not want to farmers to adopt soil conservation plans and practices before
see the loss of the wide-open spaces and the ranching lifestyle they can receive government subsidies.
that they cherish. Despite broad agreement in Congress over a 2012 farm
bill, and despite the fact that farmers were reeling from
Wetlands have been drained for farming severe drought that lowered harvests, the House of Repre-
sentatives failed to bring the 2012 legislation for a vote. In
Many of our crops grow on the sites of former wetlands subsequent negotiations over the so-called “fiscal cliff” in
(pp. 412–414)—swamps, marshes, bogs, and river flood- January 2013, Congress approved an extension of the 2008
plains—that people drained and filled in (Figure 9.26). Today, bill through September 2013. You and your instructor may
less than half the original wetlands of the lower 48 U.S. states wish to explore the latest developments regarding this impor-
and southern Canada remain. This loss results from decades of tant legislation, which affects so much of America’s land,
laborious efforts, encouraged by government policy, to drain people, and economy.
wetlands for agriculture. Todd and Arliss Nielsen’s conservation efforts on their
To promote settlement and farming, the United States Iowa farm are supported by payments from the Environmen-
256 passed a series of laws known as the Swamp Lands Acts in tal Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stew-

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