The USDA has announced that its program, “State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement,” will fund the conversion of nearly 10,000 acres of Indiana farmland into habitat more suitable for endangered bats and birds such as the bobwhite quail and American woodcock. Farmers are paid annually for 10-15 years to not farm the land, and receive money for maintenance such as erosion control. The program has already funded nearly 14,000 acres since 2008.
The algal blooms around Toledo and the subsequent loss of safe water from the tap was an interesting wake-up call for many. As we wonder about the causes of this event, we must look in part to ourselves as contributors to the problem.
And of course, as we look at Fort Wayne, we should see that we are only part of our own problem. A lot of the water quality issues we face are the result of sewer overflows from other communities and agricultural runoff from fields and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) up the St. Mary’s and St. Joseph Rivers. As we get our act together, we can more reasonably encourage the same from other communities and their members as well.
We are all downstream from environmental challenges. If we keep that in mind, maybe we can avoid the temptation to just let it be someone else’s problem.
Efforts are underway in Indiana to limit environmental regulation using the argument of protecting businesses and jobs. The rationale is that we should not impose additional “hurdles” to businesses by imposing stricter state standards. What is curious about the approach of imposing the limitation is that raising the bar in our state would require consensus to do so anyway – so why “tie our hands”?
Here are recent stories on the topic providing various points of view:
