The following article is an opinion piece written by OKFB President Tom Buchanan that was used in The Journal Record regarding the listing of the lesser prairie chicken.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau members are disappointed with a March 27 announcement by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species. This was done under a sue-and-settle-induced deadline involving the Endangered Species Act. The premature and indefensible decision unduly harms landowners and business interests in Oklahoma and circumvents ESA procedures that are required by statute.
State lawmakers received a “taste of the country” April 15 during the annual Oklahoma Farm Bureau Farm City Festival at the Capitol. The event is sponsored by the OKFB Women’s Leadership Team, consisting of rural women leaders from throughout the state.
The new farm bill, tax reform, regulatory overreach and immigration reform were key issues discussed this week by Oklahoma Farm Bureau leaders during a four-day lobbying effort in Washington, D.C.
During the 2014 legislative session, we will be featuring legislative updates with the public policy staff on different agricultural issues on our website. You can follow along with us here or you can follow along on social media using #okfb14.
We look forward to keeping you informed on these important issues throught the legislative session.
The following article is an opinion piece written by OKFB President Tom Buchanan that was used in The Journal Record regarding the listing of the lesser prairie chicken.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau members are disappointed with a March 27 announcement by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species. This was done under a sue-and-settle-induced deadline involving the Endangered Species Act. The premature and indefensible decision unduly harms landowners and business interests in Oklahoma and circumvents ESA procedures that are required by statute.
For the past several years, the farm bureau has been working with the state, private landowners and a coalition of Oklahoma’s oil and gas, transmission, wind energy and transportation industries to protect the lesser prairie chicken and avoid an ESA listing. In March 2013, the FWS approved the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation’s Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances, or CCAA, for the lesser prairie chicken on agricultural lands. Farmers and ranchers have been working hard to implement best practices to protect the lesser prairie chicken on their properties.
You can read the complete article from Tom Buchanan here.
