PUBLICATION GLOBE AND MAIL 

DATE:  TUE APR.09,2002 

PAGE:  A13 

BYLINE:  WELDON NEWTON, TERRY HILDEBRANDT AND NEIL WAGSTAFF 

CLASS:  Comment 

EDITION:  Metro DATELINE: 

WORDS:  628 

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How farmers look at species at risk

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The federal government's proposed Species at Risk Act has its share of critics. Some, like Stephen Carpenter and David Schindler, have attacked it in these pages for not regulating behaviour enough. While we in the farm community have generally been critical of the bill for other reasons, the new version moves us in the direction of stewardship, a direction we wholeheartedly support. There are two conflicting approaches to environmental conservation: the use of regulations versus the use of incentives.

Regulations work when the issues are simple and the consequences of non-compliance are obvious. Incentives result in a climate of economic and property rights in which the goals of conservation are met by people acting in their own interests. Incentives are the favoured tool of rural residents and rural conservationists.

Endangered-species issues are rural issues; it could not be otherwise. Two of the most cherished rural values are personal freedom coupled with a deep respect for private property. The regulatory approach attacks rights and freedoms by criminalizing people engaging in what were previously normal farming and development activities. To quote Mr. Carpenter and Prof. Schindler, "Mandatory and legally enforceable habitat protection must be [in the bill] to ensure that endangered species are adequately protected when landowner will is lacking." We landowners don't lack the will; it's just that our economic backs are against the wall.

The regulatory approach is at odds with the rural culture of co-operation and stewardship. Stewardship is management of landscapes to produce desired ends. Farmers understand this, and if provided with the proper incentives and information, will just as readily produce "environmental services" along with their crops and livestock. Environmental groups usually lack an appreciation of stewardship and advocate regulation, prohibition and criminalization.

The regulatory approach projects a static view of the environment. "Lock it up, keep people out and all will be well" is the regulator's prevailing philosophy. In nature, habitats and the composition and abundance of species are always in flux. Prohibiting habitat management and resource use could actually harm the conservation of species. For example, many species prefer a "young" forest, kept young by fire or periodic tree harvesting. A prohibition on forest use, in this case, would have the perverse effect of eliminating species. In the case of burrowing owls, a truly threatened Prairie species, intensive pasture use by cattle actually creates conditions required by the species. Intensive land management is usually something regulators discourage.

Finally, the regulatory approach could actually discourage species conservation as farmers become reluctant to participate in habitat programs for fear that they may provide habitat for endangered species, tying their hands in the future.

We believe that broad conservation programs can be knitted into the rural economy without jeopardizing rural communities. The regulatory approach throws that legacy completely out the window only to be replaced by police, lawsuits, enforcement and fines.

Rural communities, already in economic crisis, must not be forced to bear a disproportionate burden of environmental protection.

At the recent annual meeting of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Environment Minister David Anderson said he supported the stewardship approach. He challenged the farm community to build on his support for incentives by developing effective conservation programs from within. This is a challenge that we in the farm community could easily accept and we want to work with this minister to achieve these goals.

By working together we can have it all, a thriving farm economy and a very high level of environmental quality. It's the right way to go.

Weldon A. Newton is president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, Terry Hildebrandt is president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, and Neil Wagstaff is president of Wild Rose Agricultural Producers .