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THE PRESIDENT: Listen, thank you all for coming. I appreciate the hospitality you've shown
us here at Patuxent Research Refuge. I want to thank all the good folks who work here
from the Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as the U.S. Geological Survey.
One of the things we've discussed here is a significant environmental challenge we face
here in America, and that is birds are losing the stopover habitats they need and depend
on for their annual migrations. And therefore I've come to discuss a strategy to enhance
those habitats, without which many birds could become severely challenged.
To me, this is a national issue that requires national focus. And so I appreciate very much
you all giving me a chance to describe our strategy and thanks for your -- thanks for
working for the country.
I am proud to be here with Laura, bird-watcher extraordinaire. I appreciate Secretary Dirk
Kempthorne running our Interior Department. I do thank Wendy Paulson, who's joined us.
She's on the board of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Some of the recommendations -- or all the
recommendations that I'm describing today were brought to our attention by Wendy and
a friend of mine from Texas named Rusty Rose, both of whom serve on this important university
lab -- the board of the lab. I appreciate Judd Howell, the director, who gave us a tour.
And Brad, thank you very much for joining us.
I also want to thank George Fenwick, he's the President of the American Bird Conservancy,
for joining us as well. Appreciate the staff members here who worked on this initiative.
Thanks for your hard work and your -- and bringing what I believe the American people
will find is a commonsense policy that makes sense for our future.
I don't know if you know this or not, but each year more than 800 species of migratory
birds brave stiff winds, harsh weather and numerous predators to fly thousands of miles.
Their final destination is the warm climate of the American south, or the Caribbean or
Mexico, where they stay for the winter. These amazing travelers will then return to their
breeding grounds in the north. And as they span these distances, they fascinate and bring
joy to millions of our citizens. A lot of folks across the country love to watch birds.
For these migratory birds, surviving their long journey depends on a stopover habitat.
That basically means they got to find a place to rest, a safe place to prepare to continue
their journey. Unfortunately, expanding civilization has made it harder for these birds to find
places to stop and to rest.
And so that's the challenge we face and, you know, one area that -- one reason we came
here is because the National Wildlife Refuges like this one provide stopover habitat, and
they play a really important role in our conservation efforts. My administration has supported the
National Wildlife Refuge system. We've expanded some of the existing sites, we created 10
new ones, and we restored and improved hundreds of thousands of acres of habitat for migratory
birds. In other words, we recognize the refuge system is an important part of preserving
our bird populations.
And we've set a goal that by the time I leave office we will improve another 200,000 acres.
And I appreciate, Mr. Secretary, you joining us and committing your Department to achieving
that goal.
In addition to the wildlife refuges, we're also working to improve habitat for migratory
birds in our national parks. We've increased funding. But we've got a new initiative that
I want to -- want the American people to be aware of, and it's called the National Parks
Centennial Initiative. And the idea is to match taxpayers' money with private donations
to the tune of $3 billion, so that we can improve our national parks. And some of that
money is going to go to restoration, to the restoration of a variety of wildlife habitats,
including some that directly benefit birds.
Improving our nation's long-term protections for migratory birds requires conservation
beyond the boundaries of our national parks and refuges. And so one of the things this
administration has done is to bring together citizens and private groups and officials
from every level of government in the spirit of cooperation. In other words, we recognize
that the federal government alone cannot provide the habitat necessary for migratory birds.
We call this program cooperative conservation, and part of the emphasis is to restore critical
habitat.
One of the most important cooperative conservation efforts has been what they call joint venture
programs for water fowl. This program has brought together federal, state and tribal
agencies with private groups and corporations to improve habitat on private lands. It's
worked so well for water fowl that we're now using it for other migratory birds. We've
had -- we have 18 joint ventures now underway, and next year we're going to add three more
to help conserve birds along the Rio Grande corridor, the Appalachian Mountains and on
the Northern Great Plains.
Here's the way they work. Each venture, joint venture brings together a team of biologists
and land managers -- these are the experts -- and they make -- and then they work with
the bird conservationists in a particular region to design and carry out critical habitat
improvement. To enhance habitat conservation we're going to put forth next week an innovative
policy called recovery credit trading. This policy will provide incentives for landowners
to improve habitat for migratory birds and other species. Landowners can earn recovery
credits for the habitat they improve and then they can sell those credits. The idea is to
provide incentive for our private landowners to help deal with the concern that I started
the speech with, and that is to make sure there's critical habitat available for migratory
birds.
There's something else we can do. I asked Congress to provide tax incentive to reward
landowners who donate conservation easements. Conservation easements are a good way to ensure
the long-term preservation of habitat. They allow people to give up the right to develop
parts of their land and then count the value of that right as a charitable contribution.
The proposal would allow good citizens who give these conservation easements -- allow
them to deduct a higher portion of the donation from their income taxes, both in the year
they donated and the years that follow. In other words, this is additional incentives
for landowners to become a part of this comprehensive national strategy and Congress needs to pass
this piece of tax legislation.
You know, another important measure we've taken is in the conservation title of the
farm bill. This title encourages farmers and ranchers to set aside critical habitat through
a program called Conservation Reserve Program, or the CRP. And our proposal to Congress as
they rewrite the farm bill, we're asking them to dedicate $50 billion over five years to
make sure that this program continues in effect. The program has been effective for our farmers
and ranchers and, equally importantly, for our bird populations. And my hope is that
Congress recognizes its effectiveness and will continue to fund this program.
We're making progress in rural areas, but there needs to be some work in urban areas.
And so we've got an interesting program underway to help five cities turn parks and local backyards
into stopover bird habitats over the next two years. In other words, what we're trying
to do is to make sure that we have a successful strategy in five cities that could become
the blueprint for cities all around the country.
Many species of birds live part of their lives here in the United States and part in Mexico.
So we have a strategy to work with Mexico to enhance bird habitats in their country.
I've talked about -- I've talked about this issue with President Calder n. He shares my
concern about making sure there's critical habitat available for our migratory birds.
The Secretaries of State, Interior and Commerce are working with their counterparts in the
Mexican government. Non-governmental partners are working to undertake important habitat
projects in Mexico as well.
One of the things we have done is we've identified five priority habitats in Mexico. We listened
to the experts who pointed us to five important areas and we have provided $4 million to support
conservation initiatives there. I also directed federal agencies to increase our nation's
participation in an international effort to protect coastal and marine migratory birds
such as albatrosses and petrels. Restoring habitats at home and abroad is going to help
us achieve the objectives and goals I have set out, which is providing critical habitat
for migratory birds.
Our efforts to restore habitats are strengthening bird populations. Since 2004, the Department
of Interior has improved the status of five migratory bird species, and the Department
is helping ensure that more than 62 percent of our nation's migratory bird species are
healthy and at sustainable levels. But that's not good enough -- 62 percent is good, but
we can do better. And so I've asked the Secretary to -- Secretary Kempthorne to focus on the
status of five more species over the next five years. And to achieve this goal we need
good data. I mean, we just don't want to be guessing about bird populations, we want to
measure. And so I've asked the Secretary to produce a State of the Birds Report by 2009.
This report will chart our progress, it'll identify species that need additional protections,
and help us bring more of America's bird species into a healthy and sustainable status.
And Mr. Secretary, I appreciate your commitment. I appreciate the fact that you understand
America's greatness is not measured by material wealth alone; it's measured by how we manage
and care for all that we have been given. We're people united by our belief that we
must be good stewards of our environment. The cooperative conservation policies that
we have put in place show our commitment to protecting America's migratory birds, conserving
the habitat they depend on and ensuring that generations of Americans will enjoy the beauty
of birds for decades to come.
I appreciate you all joining me. I want to thank you for your interest. God bless our
country.