Discovering the Worm & Erosion Decline

Discovering the Worm & Erosion Decline plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. A new series of reports out by the USDA show that total cropland erosion for non-federal land has declined 43 per cent over the last quarter-century. Deputy Under Secretary Ann Mills. MILLS: We need to start measuring our results and proving that this conservation works and then telling that story far and wide. Cropland acreage declined in part due to enrollment of environmentally sensitive cropland in the USDA's Conservation Reserve Program and also some 40-million acres of land that have been developed over the last 25 years. Well it's not quite like an Indiana Jones story but there has been a quest going on to find a fabled creature said to exist on the rolling hills of Washington's Palouse countryside. Now scientists at the University of Idaho have captured two specimens of the Giant Palouse earthworm. After years of searching, researchers on March 27 located an adult and a juvenile specimen of the large, fragrant worms that have become near mythic creatures in the Palouse region of Washington and Idaho. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. The Antiquities Act originated in 1906 in order to protect and preserve Indian artifacts and natural objects that held scientific or historical interest. It has since morphed into a presidential political instrument which is generally wielded with scalpel like precision. Used three decades ago by then President Jimmy Carter the Antiquities Act helped him save face with the environmentalists of the day and left Alaska severely constrained with millions of acreage designated as national monuments. It has been used in such a way numerous times by Republican and Democrat alike, and once again we have a president in office who is more than ready to use the Antiquities Act as a political tool. With the Obama administration looking at expanding or adding new national monuments in the West thousands of acres of ranch and grazing land will be put at risk, not to mention numerous other industries that will be seriously affected by such a land grab. The Antiquities Act needs to be returned to its original intent or abolished all together. Sadly, neither will happen in time to prevent political land seizure from happening yet again. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.