| Author |
Message |
    
John
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 11, 1999 - 07:11 am: | |
Farm Bureau concerns are misplaced.
Authored by Dave Wilson of Coastal Bays Program.
(from the Coastal Dispatch editorial page)
These notes should serve to alleviate
the Maryland Farm Bureau’s concerns
about what the Coastal
Bays Program is doing for them.
I believe there is some confusion
on the part of the Bureau as to the
role and mission of the Coastal Bays
Program.
First, all of the strategies in the
management plan related to farming
are voluntary only. The Coastal
Bays Program feels that the farming
community has been hit hard
enough by regulations and should
receive financial assistance when
undergoing nutrient management
measures.
Although the Farm Bureau submitted
comments on the Coastal
Bays management plan two weeks
late, the program held a special
meeting and adopted the suggestions
the Bureau offered.
Many of the Bureau’s suggestions
indicated they believed the
recommendations were mandates. They
are not. Remember, the authors of
the plan’s actions related to agriculture
are not a bunch of bureaucrats.
They are Worcester County farmers
like Bill Bruning, Bill Simian, Jr.,
Bruce Lambertson and the Maryland
Department of Agriculture.
Each made sure farmers’ rights
were protected, as they should be.
As written in the introduction to
the management plan, farming and
forestry are not the biggest threats
to the bays. This notion is laughable
The real arbiter of the health of the
bays in the 21st century will be bow
and where development occurs.
This should be obvious to anyone
who reads the plan insofar as the
majority of strategies deal with
development, recreation and navigation
and fishery management. Only
eight strategies in the 150-page document
address farming issues.
This is why state and federal
agencies working with the Coastal
Bays Program have promised thousands
of dollars in incentives ,
voluntary cost-share money to farmer
a working in the coastal ‘bay
watershed.
All farmers should review a copy
of the management plan by calling
410-213-BAYS. I encourage the
Bureau, or any farmer who has not
helped draft the plan, to attend the
next Citizens Advisory Committee
meeting at the Board of Education
offices in Newark at 7 p.m. on May
5. |
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