OL: Do you feel that the Clean Water Act should maintain a policy of "no net loss" of wetlands? Are there other measures that need to be taken to clarify current confusion concerning what should or should not be protected? If so, what are they?
Bush: In 2002 I reaffirmed our national goal of "no net loss" of wetlands, and recent figures released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that, for the first time in history, America has reversed the annual net loss of wetlands on our farms.
So I am leading this nation toward a new wetlands goal. On Earth Day I announced an aggressive new policy for an overall increase of wetlands in America each year. My goal is to create, improve and protect at least 3 million acres of wetlands over the next five years in order to increase overall wetland acreage and quality. To meet this goal, I have called on Congress to pass my FY 2005 budget request, which includes $4.4 billion for conservation programs including funding for wetlands projects-an increase of $1.5 billion (53 percent) over FY 2001. The FY 2005 budget proposes to spend $349 million on our two key wetlands programs-the Wetlands Reserve program and the North American Wetlands Conservation Act grants program-an increase of more than 50 percent over FY 2001 for those two programs.
Kerry: For years, we have had a well-meaning policy of no net loss of wetlands. And yet, at the same time, we are losing tens of thousands of acres of wetlands in this country every year. This threatens water quality as well as the future of waterfowl hunting. Clearly, the policy has not proven to be effective and it's time hunters and others who care about wetlands take greater strides to reverse this trend.
The Clean Water Act not only should be amended to establish clearer protection for so-called isolated wetlands, but should include meaningful programs to restore much of the acreage that we already have lost. Similarly, we should fully fund the North American Wetlands Conservation Act for wetlands protection and restoration. We also should expand the Conservation Security Program and Wetlands Reserve Program of the Farm Bill to provide greater incentives to farmers and ranchers, so that they conserve these resources without facing financial hardship.
As President, I will require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to reverse current trends and restore hundreds of thousands of acres of wetlands that have been lost over the last few decades. Among the elements of that plan will be the rewriting of the wetlands guidance that was issued last year to U.S. EPA and Corps of Engineers field staff that has made it harder to protect these resources.
OL: What would you do to endorse a bill that stipulated there could be no net loss of sportsmen's access to public lands?
Bush: I strongly support policies that promote access for sportsmen. I am open to working with Congress to pass legislation that guarantees no net loss of access but at the same time ensures strong protections for our environment and natural resources.
Kerry: Maintaining access to places to hunt and fish is a critical challenge all of us face. Not only do I think that we should establish a federal policy of no net loss of sportsmen's access to public lands, we should seek ways to expand access for sportsmen to both
public and private lands. Among the ways that we should increase access are expanding and better funding the National Wildlife Refuge System, and enacting legislation, like the Open Fields bill that I have cosponsored in the U.S. Senate, which provides $50 million per year to state game-and-fish agencies to fund voluntary private-lands-access programs. A number of Midwestern states have such programs today, working with private landowners to open millions of acres to the hunting and fishing public. We should provide states with the resources to open tens of millions more acres for this purpose.
OL: What is the greatest day you ever had in the field?
Bush: My greatest day in the field was my last day in
the field. This past year, my father and I hunted quail in Beeville, Tex. It was a great opportunity to spend
some quality time with my dad and we stirred up several good covies.
Kerry: The greatest day I ever had in the field was in South Carolina hunting with my cousins; though last year bagging two pheasants with two shots on my first hunt in Iowa was also a good day.
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