In July, the U.S. House of Representatives made progress on two bills that will impact migratory bird conservation.? On July 16, the House passed the Joint Ventures for Bird Habitat Conservation Act by a vote of 400-0.? Then on July 29 by a vote of 26 to 16, the House Natural Resources Committee passed a bill that would increase the price of the Federal Duck Stamp, but not without facing opposition by the panel's minority members.? The two bills are intended to codify and improve existing programs that have made substantial improvements in wetland habitats and migratory bird conservation efforts, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

The Joint Venture bill, H.R. 2188, is authorizing legislation intended to codify the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's extremely successful joint ventures that have traditionally not had a specific funding allocation.? The public/private partnerships to conserve migratory bird habitat have leveraged more than $4.5 billion of public and private funds conserving nearly 16 million acres of waterfowl habitat in the 23 years since they began.? Yet federal funding for the partnerships has been written into the federal budget every year.? Currently there are eighteen habitat-based joint ventures and three species-based in the United States and four habitat-based joint ventures operating in Canada.

"H.R. 2188 was introduced to provide a statutory authorization for this very important continent-wide tool that encourages a broad, landscape-approach to the conservation of bird habitat," states the Committee's report associated with the bill. ?"The bill, as introduced and passed by the committee, captures the fundamental aspects of joint ventures as they have been defined and as they have evolved. The legislation also fully incorporates the voluntary, partnership-oriented approach to habitat conservation that make joint ventures flexible, adaptive, innovative and effective in conserving and protecting bird habitats in North America."

The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Duck Stamp Bill More Controversial

An effort to increase the cost of the Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (duck stamp) faced considerably more opposition.? H.R. 1916 would increase the cost of a duck stamp from $15 to $25 in 2010 in order to raise money to purchase and protect important wetland habitat. However, members of the House Natural Resource Committee offered twelve amendments trying to reduce the cost of the fee increase or redirect where the revenues could be spent.?

"When the American people are suffering real economic pain with too many of our constituents having lost their jobs, their savings, and even their homes, we should not be considering legislation that simply fattens the federal coffers by raising prices on Americans in order for the government to purchase more private land," said Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (R-WA).

Thirty-one sportsmen's organizations, including the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, Delta Waterfowl Foundation and the Wildlife Management Institute, wrote a letter supporting the bill to Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Ranking Member Hastings. ?In the letter, the groups urged the Committee to not make changes that would "change or diminish, or divert resources away from, the fundamental purpose and integrity of the duck stamp program, which is to secure (through acquisition or easement) wetland habitats for management within the [National Wildlife Refuge] System.

The Committee agreed to a few amendments to the bill. The Committee-passed bill now exempts veterans, the unemployed and children from the fee increase as well as to increase the number of members on the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission. In addition, an amendment that prohibits land acquisition through government condemnation was approved as was an amendment striking original bill language that would increase the stamp to $35 in 2020. (jas)