Ranchers support removing Endangered Species Act protections for Mexican wolves
Tom Peterson with the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association says taxpayers are “unfortunate casualties” of this overlay now that the Mexican wolf population is stable under ESA guidelines.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers are weighing a proposal that would remove Mexican wolves from the Endangered Species Act. Industry groups are backing the bill, with one expert saying federal restrictions have created major challenges for livestock producers.
“For the last 25 years, my neighbors and I have seen the worst kind of impacts from a federal policy,” said Tom Paterson, president-elect of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association. “Here is the Endangered Species Act that treats local people as acceptable sacrifices for a national initiative to recover an apex predator for two and a half decades.”
Peterson says this outlay comes despite the Mexican wolf population being stable enough that it should no longer be a protected species.
“We have been unfortunate and unacceptable casualties in this,” Peterson said. “This is a story to recover Mexican wolves. Taxpayers have shared our misery. Mexican wolf recovery has cost taxpayers nearly $260,000 for each wolf now on the ground. That’s more than a quarter of a million dollars. Each recovery cost taxpayers more than $15 million over the past three years alone.”
The number of wolves now on the ground meets the number identified in the ESA recovery plan.
In part seven of his blog series,"Top 10 Developments in Ag Law and Tax in 2023,” agri-legal expert Roger McEowen covers the #1 issues, SCOTUS and defining a “Water of the United States.”
In part six of his blog series,"Top 10 Developments in Ag Law and Tax in 2023,” farm legal expert Roger McEowen tackles issue #2, foreign ownership of ag land.
In part five of his blog series, “Top 10 Developments in Ag Law and Tax in 2023,” Roger McEowen tackles issue number three, California’s Prop 12 pork regulations.
In part four of his blog series, “Top 10 Developments in Ag Law and Tax in 2023,” Roger McEowen tackles issue number four, the Employment Retention Credit.
In part three of his blog series, “Top 10 Developments in Ag Law and Tax in 2023,” Roger McEowen covers the Corps of Engineers’ mismanagement of Missouri River water levels.
As we start the new year, let’s take a look at some of the legislative items from 2023 affecting agriculture that will continue to play out in the political area for months to come.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders spoke with RFD-TV’s own Susan Alexander this Monday morning on the Market Day Report to explain Arkansas’s recently passed giving lawmakers greater authority to sanction foreign ag-land ownership within the state.
Tight feeder supplies and lower placements indicate continued support for the cattle market, with regional impacts heightened in Texas by reduced feeder imports.
National Land Realty’s Jeramy Stephens shares his outlook on farmland market trends, which remain under close watch as new federal assistance programs roll out — with experts analyzing potential impacts on land values, buying, and stability.
