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 Speaking Bureau Jo Ann Baumgartner, Director, Wild Farm Alliance, Watsonville, CA, wildfarms@earthlink.net Wildlife Friendly Agriculture Agriculturists and conservationists tend to overlook their shared love for the land and their common commitment to protecting it from development, overexploitation, and urban pollution. In the U.S., farming and ranching dominate the landscape, and a large number of this country's endangered plant and animal species are listed because of agriculture's impact to habitat. Establishing wildways will link farms to each other and to the larger landscape in which they function. Agriculture can also serve as buffers between intense development and wildlands. For agriculture to become truly sustainable, local ecosystems must be integrated farm by farm, creek by creek, prairie by prairie, maintaining habitat for the wide range of native species and ecosystem processes. Sam Earnshaw, Central Coast Regional Coordinator, Community Alliance with Family Farmers, Watsonville, CA, sambo@cruzio.com Conservation Buffers Conservation buffers, such as hedgerows, windbreaks, and grassed waterways, significantly improve soil and water quality and at the same time provide habitat for wildlife. Flowering hedgerows support pollinators and other beneficial insects, and windbreaks moderate the mirco-climate. Grassed waterways stabilize the soil from water and wind erosion, reduce weed competition, increase water retention, and filter pollutants. Using native plants in these restoration efforts provides food and shelter for wildlife. Dan Imhoff, Director, Watershed Media, Healdsburg, CA info@watershedmedia.org Farming with the Wild With farming and ranching dominating vast amounts of land, water, and resources, agriculture has become critical terrain in the challenge to preserve biodiversity and to maintain vital ecosystem services. Using dramatic photographs from his book, Farming with the Wild, Dan profiles exemplary farmers, ranchers, certification organizations, land trust and wildlands philanthropy initiatives, and various other efforts who are addressing the need for ecological protection within the farmlands. Key topics include creating regional farmscapes based on a watershed approach, wildlands connectivity initiatives, restoring marginal croplands, using non-lethal predator control, restoring native habitat, instigating regional-specific cropping systems, establishing corridors and wildways, encouraging ecolabels and other market-based incentives. Dana Jackson, Associate Director, Land Stewardship Project, White Bear, MN danaj@landstewardshipproject.org Reconnecting Food Systems with Ecosystems Dana challenges the notion that the dominant agricultural landscape-bereft of its original vegetation and wildlife and despoiled by chemical runoff-is inevitable. Her book, The Farm as Natural Habitat (co-edited with Laura Jackson), describes farming systems that produce not only healthful food, but also functioning ecosystems and abundant populations of native species. She invites discussion on how farmers can establish profitable enterprises without destroying wetlands and wildlife habitat, and how to communicate to consumers and public policy makers the importance of the connection between the grocery list and the endangered species list. Dan Kent, Director, Salmon-Safe, Portland, OR dan@salmonsafe.org Clean Water for Salmon West Coast farmers face intensifying regulatory scrutiny with the dramatic collapse of native salmon populations throughout the region. Chinook and coho salmon and steelhead trout populations have declined precipitously and all three species are listed by the National Marine Fisheries Service as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in various parts of their Pacific Coast range. Salmon-Safe addresses the agricultural practices that result in sedimentation and nutrient loading of streams, as well as harmful pesticide pollution, by providing technical assistance and market incentives to assist growers in implementing conservation farming practices that protect water quality and fish habitat. Vance Russell, Director Landowner Stewardship Program, Audubon California, Winters, CA, 530-795-2921 Public and Private Agricultural Conservation Partnerships Vance shares experiences gained from working with farmers and ranchers in Audubon California's landowner stewardship program which provides direct technical and financial assistance to individual landowners in the Putah-Cache bioregion, in Northern California, to protect and restore wildlife habitat. Conservation projects are designed to restore native perennial grassland, riparian, oak woodland and wetland habitats in a manner compatible with existing agricultural practices. research and environmental education with local students complement and guide restoration and conservation activities. |
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© 2005 Wild Farm Alliance. All Rights Reserved. |
