WETLANDS: LAND supports the concept of preserving those wetlands that have substantial environmental value. However, we do not feel that nuisance depressions that are tilled in most years are in “society’s interest” to preserve. If a privately owned wetland is to be preserved by government decree, we believe the Constitution requires government to fairly compensate the landowner at fair market value.
SWAMPBUSTER: We believe there is an important difference between Swampbuster and previous incentive driven conservation programs. Prior to 1985, producers could be eligible for farm program benefits by practicing certain soil conservation requirements. These practices did not restrict improvements that increase efficiency, nor did they cause loss of land value. Swampbuster changed that and paved the way for regulations to bypass Fifth Amendment guarantees. Government now uses economic and police force to shift the cost of wildlife and environmental agendas to the landowner without paying “just compensation.” We are asked to concede that society’s interest in “no net loss of wetlands,” is sufficient to warrant infringement on property rights; thus opening the door for further erosion of property rights.
To justify Swampbuster by saying that you can obtain freedom from restriction by not accepting farm subsidies does not exempt the landowner from loss of land value, nor does it exempt the landowner from EPA, Corps of Engineers, US Fish & Wildlife Service or other agency regulations.
LAND feels that Swampbuster set a dangerous precedent and calls for fundamental revisions of law.
ENDANGERED SPECIES: LAND respects all of the species in the eco-system. If the loss or reduction of a particular species is such as to warrant restrictions on the use of privately owned land, then all of society (through government or private sources) should pay the landowner for the loss of the use of the land.
GOVERNMENT LAND ACQUISITION: Government now owns more than 1/3 of the land in the U.S. and continues to acquire land at an astounding rate. How much land should government control? The US Fish & Wildlife Service has expanded its land holdings more than 30 times in the last 35 years, from 2.7 million acres in 1956 to 91.3 million acres in 1989. This is twice the size of the state of North Dakota. The Nature Conservancy organization buys land at the rate of more than 1,000 acres a day, which it then sells to the government for a profit. These organizations have been considered non-profit and tax-exempt. LAND believes that society is best served when property remains primarily in private hands. We believe that individual land ownership carries with it a devotion and appreciation that can never be matched by government.
