ARE YOU "LISTENING?," YOUR PROPERTY RIGHTS ARE FADING AWAY

 

 

 

 

Joyce Morrison
September 2, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

Sometimes red flags jump up when you read an article and you know �something� isn�t quite right. But when red flags wave, bells ring and funny little things jump up and down, you know that �something� is really trying to get your attention.

That is exactly what happened when I read about �Cooperative Conservation.� It reeked of the feeling one has when mean little kids would visit and your mother would say, �Be nice - and share.� You knew those kids could care less about how hard you had worked to get your �things� and how carefully you cared for them. After those kids got hold of them, they would still be yours � but your property would never be same. These intruders now had a stake in them.

Apparently the president felt there should be some sharing. On August 26, 2004, he issued an Executive Order on the �Facilitation of Cooperative Conservation.�

The Executive Order basically says �everyone must play together and if it is yours � you have to share.� Thousands of people will be involved in the �resources� on your property and you did not invite them to play with you, yet they will all have a stake in your sweat equity.

The Secretaries of Interior, Commerce and Agriculture, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality have listed the dates and locations of the listening sessions on cooperative conservation and environmental partnerships.

The release said, �The listening sessions will give citizens an opportunity to exchange ideas on incentives, partnership programs and regulations that can improve results and promote cooperative conservation and environmental partnerships.�

Issues that will be �listened to� at these sessions are:

�I�m from the government and I�m here to help you,� rings loud and clear.

In August 2005, by invitation only, 1300 representatives from environmental groups, government agencies, business entities and a handful of landowners attended a three day conference in St. Louis, MO on cooperative conservation.

The least represented and the persons who have the most at stake are the farmers. Cooperative conservation will be using the �tools of the Farm Bill,� and farmers have the most property the stakeholders want to �share.� There are a few organizations that supposedly represent farmers, but most farm organization representatives attending the meetings are personnel who have never had dirt under their fingernails.

The Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) were highly represented at the meeting in St. Louis. The role the NGOs will play in cooperative conservation sounds very familiar to United Nations Agenda 21�s definition of NGOs working with Federal, state and local governments. Keep in mind, you do not elect the officials at The Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, Sierra Club, and other NGOs, but they will all be partners with the government in the private-public partnerships�..regulating YOUR property. [Must see DVD: "Liberty or Sustainable Development"]

The United Nations Habitat 1 held in Vancouver in 1976 - Preamble of Agenda Item 10 states:

Illinois River Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) is a cooperation conservation case study. In Illinois, the �key partners long the Illinois River are USDA Farm Service Agency, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Illinois Department of Agriculture, Illinois Department of Environmental Protection, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Illinois Farm Bureau, Illinois conservation districts, Ducks Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, and farm producers.�

Note how the farm producers are the last partner mentioned. Does this sound like Habitat I? How much do you think it costs per meeting for these agencies and NGOs to decide what to do about your property?

Few farmers have wealth in their pocket. They spend their lives worrying if the crops will make the farm payment and how they can keep ahead of the operating expenses. But there is no more pride to be felt than a farmer farming his own land. Is this privilege �and right -- about to be taken from the farmer who raises our food? Will he be replaced by ducks and weeds?

�The Nature Conservancy is assessing best management practices in the CREP project area to quantify the environmental benefits of these practices,� according to their project summary. The contact for the project is the Illinois State Director of The Nature Conservancy.

Where are our elected officials?

The American Heritage Rivers Initiative falls under cooperative conservation. These are rivers named by former President Bill Clinton. This initiative left the opening for severe restrictions in the Heritage Rivers� watersheds. Public opposition prevented a number of rivers from getting on his list.

Time to re-establish a property rights ethic, an article by Duggan Flanakin for Eco-logic states, �We are in danger of abandoning our founding principles, and suborning our own future prosperity to an alien philosophy which, under the guise of group rights concentrates power in the hands of elites.�

Conservation easements are used in �cooperative conservation.� On August 17 a press release stated �Today, President Bush signed a measure into law that will aid the protection of thousands of acres of the nation�s shrinking agricultural lands. Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) spearheaded efforts to create the new tax provision. It will increase deductions available to farmers, ranchers and other landowners who donate their property for conservation easements.�

It is ironic there is such a push to take farmland out of production to be used for wetlands, CREP, CRP, conservation easements and other programs and yet millions of dollars are spent on projects to prevent sprawl and conservation in the name of saving our land for agriculture.

At a meeting this month, Illinois Congressmen John Shimkus and Ray LaHood both said they had never heard of the cooperative conservation program. Apparently congress has not been fully informed of this vast production to be performed by the government bureaus (bureaucrats) and the NGOs.

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If this is truly a democracy, why have unelected officials in the government bureaus (bureaucrats) and the NGOs been given so much power to rule over the people while spending our tax dollars? Could this be taxation without representation?

� 2006 Joyce Morrison - All Rights Reserved