[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 43 (Monday, October 29, 2007)]
[Pages 1386-1388]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, Maryland

October 20, 2007

    The President. Listen, thank you all for coming. I appreciate the 
hospitality you've shown us here at Patuxent Research Refuge. I want to 
thank all the good folks who work here from the Fish and Wildlife 
Service as well as the U.S. Geological Survey.
    One of the things we've discussed here is a significant 
environmental challenge we face here in America, and that is, birds are 
losing the stopover habitats they need and depend on for their annual 
migrations. And therefore, I've come to discuss a strategy to enhance 
those habitats, without which many birds could become severely 
challenged.
    To me, this is a national issue that requires national focus. And so 
I appreciate very much you all giving me a chance to describe our 
strategy and thanks for your--thanks for working for the country.
    I am proud to be here with Laura, bird-watcher extraordinaire. I 
appreciate Secretary Dirk Kempthorne running our Interior Department. I 
do thank Wendy Paulson, who's joined us. She's on the board of the 
Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Some of the recommendations--or all the 
recommendations that I'm describing today were brought to our attention 
by Wendy and a friend of mine from Texas named Rusty Rose, both of whom 
serve on this important university lab--the board of the lab. I 
appreciate Judd Howell, the Director, who gave us a tour. And Brad, 
thank you very much for joining us.
    I also want to thank George Fenwick--he's the president of the 
American Bird Conservancy--for joining us as well. Appreciate the staff 
members here who worked on this initiative. Thanks for your hard work 
and your--and bringing what I believe the American people will find is a 
commonsense policy that makes sense for our future.
    I don't know if you know this or not, but each year, more than 800 
species of migratory birds brave stiff winds, harsh weather, and 
numerous predators to fly thousands of miles. Their final destination is 
the warm climate of the American South or the Caribbean or Mexico, where 
they stay for the winter. These amazing travelers will then return to 
their breeding grounds in the north. And as they span these distances, 
they fascinate and bring joy to millions of our citizens. A lot of folks 
across the country love to watch birds.
    For these migratory birds, surviving their long journey depends on a 
stopover habitat. That basically means they got to find a place

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to rest, a safe place to prepare to continue their journey. 
Unfortunately, expanding civilization has made it harder for these birds 
to find places to stop and to rest.
    And so that's the challenge we face. And, you know, one area that--
one reason we came here is because the national wildlife refuges like 
this one provide stopover habitat, and they play a really important role 
in our conservation efforts. My administration has supported the 
National Wildlife Refuge System. We've expanded some of the existing 
sites; we created 10 new ones; and we restored and improved hundreds of 
thousands of acres of habitat for migratory birds. In other words, we 
recognize the refuge system is an important part of preserving our bird 
populations.
    And we've set a goal that by the time I leave office, we will 
improve another 200,000 acres. And I appreciate, Mr. Secretary, you 
joining us and committing your Department to achieving that goal.
    In addition to the wildlife refuges, we're also working to improve 
habitat for migratory birds in our national parks. We've increased 
funding. But we've got a new initiative that I want to--want the 
American people to be aware of, and it's called the National Parks 
Centennial Initiative. And the idea is to match taxpayers' money with 
private donations to the tune of $3 billion, so that we can improve our 
national parks. And some of that money is going to go to restoration, to 
the restoration of a variety of wildlife habitats, including some that 
directly benefit birds.
    Improving our Nation's long-term protections for migratory birds 
requires conservation beyond the boundaries of our national parks and 
refuges. And so one of the things this administration has done is to 
bring together citizens and private groups and officials from every 
level of government in the spirit of cooperation. In other words, we 
recognize that the Federal Government alone cannot provide the habitat 
necessary for migratory birds. We call this program ``cooperative 
conservation,'' and part of the emphasis is to restore critical habitat.
    One of the most important cooperative conservation efforts has been 
what they call joint venture programs for water fowl. This program has 
brought together Federal, State, and tribal agencies with private groups 
and corporations to improve habitat on private lands. It's worked so 
well for water fowl that we're now using it for other migratory birds. 
We've had--we have 18 joint ventures now underway, and next year, we're 
going to add 3 more to help conserve birds along the Rio Grande 
corridor, the Appalachian Mountains, and on the northern Great Plains.
    Here's the way they work. Each venture--joint venture brings 
together a team of biologists and land managers--these are the experts--
and they make--and then they work with the bird conservationists in a 
particular region to design and carry out critical habitat improvement. 
To enhance habitat conservation, we're going to put forth next week an 
innovative policy called recovery credit trading. This policy will 
provide incentives for landowners to improve habitat for migratory birds 
and other species. Landowners can earn recovery credits for the habitat 
they improve, and then they can sell those credits. The idea is to 
provide incentive for our private landowners to help deal with the 
concern that I started the speech with, and that is to make sure there's 
critical habitat available for migratory birds.
    There's something else we can do. I asked Congress to provide tax 
incentives to reward landowners who donate conservation easements. 
Conservation easements are a good way to ensure the long-term 
preservation of habitat. They allow people to give up the right to 
develop parts of their land and then count the value of that right as a 
charitable contribution. The proposal would allow good citizens who give 
these conservation easements--allow them to deduct a higher portion of 
the donation from their income taxes, both in the year they donated and 
the years that follow. In other words, this is additional incentives for 
landowners to become a part of this comprehensive national strategy, and 
Congress needs to pass this piece of tax legislation.
    You know, another important measure we've taken is in the 
conservation title of the farm bill. This title encourages farmers and 
ranchers to set aside critical habitat through

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a program called Conservation Reserve Program, or the CRP. And our 
proposal to Congress as they rewrite the farm bill, we're asking them to 
dedicate $50 billion over 5 years to make sure that this program 
continues in effect. The program has been effective for our farmers and 
ranchers and, equally importantly, for our bird populations. And my hope 
is that Congress recognizes its effectiveness and will continue to fund 
this program.
    We're making progress in rural areas, but there needs to be some 
work in urban areas. And so we've got an interesting program underway to 
help five cities turn parks and local backyards into stopover bird 
habitats over the next 2 years. In other words, what we're trying to do 
is to make sure that we have a successful strategy in five cities that 
could become the blueprint for cities all around the country.
    Many species of birds live part of their lives here in the United 
States and part in Mexico. So we have a strategy to work with Mexico to 
enhance bird habitats in their country. I've talked about this issue 
with President Calderon. He shares my concern about making sure there's 
critical habitat available for our migratory birds. The Secretaries of 
State, Interior, and Commerce are working with their counterparts in the 
Mexican Government. Nongovernmental partners are working to undertake 
important habitat projects in Mexico as well.
    One of the things we have done is we've identified five priority 
habitats in Mexico. We listened to the experts who pointed us to five 
important areas, and we have provided $4 million to support conservation 
initiatives there. I also directed Federal Agencies to increase our 
Nation's participation in an international effort to protect coastal and 
marine migratory birds such as albatrosses and petrels. Restoring 
habitats at home and abroad is going to help us achieve the objectives 
and goals I have set out, which is providing critical habitat for 
migratory birds.
    Our efforts to restore habitats are strengthening bird populations. 
Since 2004, the Department of Interior has improved the status of five 
migratory bird species, and the Department is helping ensure that more 
than 62 percent of our Nation's migratory bird species are healthy and 
at sustainable levels. But that's not good enough--62 percent is good, 
but we can do better. And so I've asked the Secretary to--Secretary 
Kempthorne to focus on the status of five more species over the next 5 
years. And to achieve this goal, we need good data. I mean, we just 
don't want to be guessing about bird populations; we want to measure. 
And so I've asked the Secretary to produce a State of the Birds report 
by 2009. This report will chart our progress. It'll identify species 
that need additional protections and help us bring more of America's 
bird species into a healthy and sustainable status.
    And, Mr. Secretary, I appreciate your commitment.
    Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. Absolutely.
    The President. I appreciate the fact that you understand America's 
greatness is not measured by material wealth alone; it's measured by how 
we manage and care for all that we have been given. We're people united 
by our belief that we must be good stewards of our environment. The 
cooperative conservation policies that we have put in place show our 
commitment to protecting America's migratory birds, conserving the 
habitat they depend on, and ensuring that generations of Americans will 
enjoy the beauty of birds for decades to come.
    I appreciate you all joining me. I want to thank you for your 
interest. God bless our country.

Note: The President spoke at 9:01 a.m. in the Endangered Crane Complex. 
In his remarks, he referred to Wendy Paulson and Rusty Rose, 
administrative board members, Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Judd Howell, 
Director, U.S.G.S. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center; Brad Burns, 
president, Stripers Forever; and President Felipe de Jesus Calderon 
Hinojosa of Mexico.