"Building on Leopold's Legacy" Release No .0396.99 by Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Rich Rominger "Building on Leopold's Legacy" Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters Madison, Wisconsin -- October 5, 1999 "A LAND ETHIC FOR ALL TIME" "My good friend, Paul Johnson, thank you for those very kind words. We held onto Paul as long as we could as Chief of USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Paul and I go back some 12 years, first working together as farmers from Iowa and California. The nation has some truly profound benefits from Paul's leadership. And I have some great memories especially the time a group of us slipped out of Washington for a weekend retreat at the Leopold "shack." In the immortal words, not of Aldo Leopold, but of William Wordsworth, "One impulse from a vernal wood will teach you more of man, of moral wisdom and of good than all the sages can." "My deep appreciation to the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters for its own rich conservation history . to Honorary Chairs Nina Leopold Bradly and Senator Gaylord Nelson .and Co-Chairs Paul Johnson, Joy Zedler, and Curt Meine. It's a wonderful honor to be here. "One of the delights of this conference will be a new book of Leopold essays not published before. And one of the delights of For the Health of the Land, edited by J. Baird Callicott and Eric Freyfogle -- which I've been lucky enough to see in advance -- is the reminder that Aldo Leopold, for all the truth and wisdom of his work, was also a very witty man. "In a December 1946 essay, left in pencil draft at his death, he lists four conditions -- he calls them his "guesses" -- for land-health and the continued ticking of the "biotic clock." They are: "1 -- Cease throwing away its parts. 2 -- Handle it gently. 3 -- Recognize that its importance transcends economics. And 4 -- Don't let too many people tinker with it." "How's that for plain talk? We could use a little of that in Washington. To talk as plainly as I can . I'm excited. From the most personal level ... the ponds my sons have built on our farm in California, the irrigation tail water return systems, the buffers, the vegetation they've established for wildlife habitat ... to the conservation achievements of the 1996 Farm Bill ... and the conservation possibilities of the next Farm Bill ... from local to policy levels, exciting things are happening. "I'm passionate about what farmers who understand the environmental needs of their own piece of land, and who love that land, can accomplish. Each day they weave a part of Aldo Leopold's American rug. But I'm also concerned about doing right by those farmers so they can do right by the land. What is government's proper role? I'm not talking just policies, programs, and structure. I'm also talking about the philosophy that pulls all three together, gives them meaning, and the people we have out there to put all this in place and help make it work for private landowners where they live and work. "Let's explore those questions using Aldo Leopold's own 4-point prescription for land-health as a guide. "CEASE THROWING AWAY ITS PARTS" "First, "Cease throwing away its parts." "Leopold's sense of the complex harmony -- that's the ultimate goal, hard to achieve -- between man and land, echoes the words of conservationist John Muir over a century ago:"When we try to pick anything out by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." "USDA's goal is to reach early in the next millennium a greater measure of that state of harmony between people and land that we commonly call conservation. "Progress is slow, but it's there. "Early in this century, at the prompting of visionaries like President Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir and Gifford Pinchot, we set aside this nation's "special places" national parks and forests . and later, wildlife refuges, grasslands, seashores, and wilderness areas. We have showcased the dramatic and beautiful. And this is good. But at the same time, in the public mind, we have often created the sense that conservation means public places where people don't belong. As Leopold said, "The divorcement of things practical from things beautiful ... threatens the land-base on which the social structure rests." "To involve all Americans in the stewardship of their national forests, just last Thursday Secretary Glickman announced a major philosophical change in the way the Forest Service does business. Led by Chief Mike Dombeck, the Forest Service proposes to involve the public and scientists much earlier in the planning so we can develop a common vision for our forests ... from watershed health, recreation and sustainable forestry, to transportation systems. "But the national commitment to private land stewardship differs greatly from the commitment to the care of public land. "In 1996, under the strong influence of Paul Johnson and current Chief Pearlie Reed, we worked to establish private lands in the public mind as "special places" in their own right with the publication of A Geography of Hope. We, meaning all those who worked on it, rewrote conservation history through the Farm Bill by bringing together all the "parts" 'environmental benefits' including not just soil conservation but protection of wildlife habitat and the health of rivers and streams. "We stressed the importance to the nation of private land stewardship. Leopold said there's a "spiritual danger" in not owning a farm . believing that breakfast comes from the grocery. The Farm Bill was an effort to get things right once again, to remind folks that you're connected to the land every time you buy a loaf of bread, or watch a flock of geese heading south. We may lose what Wallace Stegner calls our "sense of place," but we'll never lose our dependence on place. "We are an urban nation, but an agricultural land. Nearly 70 percent of the United States is in private ownership. The care of 50 percent of the U.S. is in the hands of less than 2 percent of our citizens. What a tremendous responsibility the nation needs to understand that. "To prepare for the next century, we need to understand current conditions ... the quality of our soil, the state of our wildlife habitat and biodiversity, our water quality, and the interrelationship between these resources and our farmers, ranchers and the community as a whole. Since Leopold's time, more international trade and travel have brought more invasive species, adding to our challenge. "The health of our land encompasses both soil erosion and soil quality. So far, we have focused most of our efforts on soil erosion. It's time to undertake a more comprehensive study on soil quality issues, a closer look at this complex living system. Have we forgotten that the land and the soil are the base of all we do and will achieve? How we approach them and protect them will define us as a people. "USDA's National Resources Inventory is the nation's most comprehensive and continuous monitoring of soils and other natural resource conditions and trends. We now have data from three inventory years, and each NRI improves on the previous one. The last Inventory, in 1992, added a first measure of wildlife habitat diversity. We expect to release the next one in mid-November. "We have made tremendous strides since the "Dust Bowl" galvanized America to heed the warnings of Hugh Hammond Bennett. Bennett led the Soil Erosion Service, which began working with farmers in the Coon Creek watershed of southwestern Wisconsin, long since a showcase of conservation. We have made continuous progress with the successor Soil Conservation Service, now the NRCS. But we cannot rest on our laurels. We're not there yet. Soil is still the largest export from the farms, ranches, and forests of this nation. More tons of soil are lost each year than the total of our agricultural exports. "That thin layer of soil on which we depend is the essence of Leopold's "land-health." Allan Savory, who promotes "holistic management," says it's like our skin: lose a little, damage a little, you'll recover. Damage too much, and it's too late. So my wife Evelyne suggested to him a new rallying cry, "S.O.S. - Save Our Skin." Incidently, the only thing Evelyne remembers from her college botany course was a statement by Professor W.W. Robbins, who wrote the textbook on botany used by many colleges in Leopold's time: "Green grass is the most important thing in the world." That's not such a bad slogan either. "HANDLE IT GENTLY" "With the future of this most basic commodity at stake, we move to Leopold's second prescription for land-health "handle it gently." That's something we got away from in the decades after Leopold's death. As Paul Johnson says in the upcoming Curt Meine-Richard Knight book, The Essential Aldo Leopold, "We came to view soil and water merely as basic production inputs, to be shoved around and shaped to achieve short-term individual economic goals." "We've come a long way since then. Erosion rates are down significantly. Landscapes are much healthier. With the 1996 Farm Bill, we moved closer to Leopold's view of "individual ethics as the basis of conservation policy." The health of private land is in the hands of millions of individuals, who know and understand their land and its problems. The sum total of their commitment determines the health of the nation's land. We recognized environmental benefits as quality-of-life commodities every bit as critical as corn, wheat, and cattle. From wetlands restoration, to payments for buffers, to farmland protection easements, and wildlife habitat incentives, we stamped the land "Handle with Care." And most farmers are doing just that ... tackling their specific problems at the local level ... from Pfiesteria in the Chesapeake to protecting habitats for endangered salmon and trout in the Pacific Northwest. The President's Clean Water Action Plan, for example, looks to local people assuming leadership roles, and coming up with solutions that work for their watershed. But they can't do it alone. If I had to define our NRCS in any one way, that would have to be its people. NRCS is the only federal agency whose major purpose is to provide conservation technical assistance to private landowners across the country. It's our delivery system in the field that makes the work happen ... work like the nutrient management help thousands of producers will be needing as part of our national strategy on animal feeding operations, one of the biggest conservation issues facing agriculture. " RECOGNIZE THAT ITS IMPORTANCE TRANSCENDS ECONOMICS" "This is work whose importance clearly "transcends economics," Leopold's 3rd measure of land-health. We don't need to be convinced of that. We know that dollars invested in financial and technical assistance to private landowners are long-term investments. One of our greatest challenges is getting across to the public the understanding that conservation is a true investment with sustainable yields for food and fiber production. "Even here, in the world's most agriculturally abundant nation, we can push the earth beyond her limits. We all need to understand that. As the global population swells, increasing the strain on our natural resources, seeking a sustainable balance is less a matter of choice and more a matter of survival. It will help if we stabilize the population of the earth sooner, at a smaller number, rather than later, at a greater number of people. As Leopold said, keep the human population within the land's carrying capacity. "Conservation programs, by definition, produce long-term results. They suffer in a budget showdown against short-term budget emergencies. And at a time like this, when so many farmers are struggling just to survive, the stress is written on the land. A hurting farm economy puts more pressure on farmers to abandon good stewardship practices, or postpone making that needed conservation investment. "To help relieve these pressures, the Administration plans to take several immediate measures. But we need to get better at prevention than crisis management. We must mobilize our resources, measure our performance, and describe graphically and concretely what our conservation programs are achieving for the national well-being. "New programs like the Conservation Reserve and Environmental Quality Incentives Programs should augment, not substitute for, the core conservation programs that are the historical heart of our locally-led conservation partnerships. "And perhaps it's time to take a hard look at the numbers. Today, the public financial commitment for conservation on private land is just one-fifth the 1937 level. Private land makes up the largest portion of our country's landscape. Most of the federal commitment to conservation on private land is through USDA and we do it with funding of less than $2 per acre each year. Yet several agencies protect and manage public land with funding of about $10 per acre each year. "DON'T LET TOO MANY PEOPLE TINKER WITH IT" "As we consider the numbers, we should prepare for the next Farm Bill by thinking about Leopold's 4th prescription for land-health: "Don't let too many people tinker with it." "Today more people are interested in what's happening on the land than in Leopold's time, and they all need to help. "In the year 2000, how do we build on Leopold's legacy and on the quiet conservation revolution underway, the legacy of Paul Johnson? Can the next Farm Bill be more a conservation bill than 1996? 'Decades of regulation -- the Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts, for example -- produced results in a negative sort of way. They kept us from doing something terrible rather than encouraging us to do something good. Regulation is the least that the most can do, rather than the best that some can -- and want -- to do. "I don't think we can regulate our way to sound conservation. But we can make the changes that will help this nation's private landowners do their job. "Let's consider: Should the next Farm Bill treat environmental benefits as conservation commodities? Can current agricultural policy meet our environmental goals while protecting the economic viability of our nation's farms? 'How can we build on current programs by rewarding farmers who are good conservationists? If their stewardship is excellent, should this volunteerism reap its own reward? Should we support the idea of "green payments," a balance between traditional commodity programs and "polluter pays" regulatory principles? "History shows that a heavy-handed regulatory approach yields healthy islands in the midst of all other land. But it can't produce Leopold's healthy landscape -- people in harmony with the land and the thousands of species that share it. "The next Farm Bill should be "The Conservation Farm Bill -- A Land Ethic for All Time." We can make it happen. "I want to thank you for this chance to explore 21st century possibilities based on Leopold's plain-talk guide to land-health. Building on his legacy, and on our own progress, offers us the opportunity to leave our mark on the world. Let's make sure that mark would make Leopold proud. "Thank you."