Good Morning,

My name is Joseph Drew Lanham and I’m a Professor of Wildlife Ecology at Clemson University.  I am also a proud member of the South Carolina Wildlife Federation Board and an Affiliate Representative to the National Wildlife Federation, one of the oldest conservation organizations in the United States. We should all be proud that others look to South Carolina as a leader in the natural resources conservation world.  I am certainly proud to carry that banner and honored to speak to you today.

 In the many roles that I play professionally—ornithologist, wildlife ecologist, birder and board member—I am at heart a naturalist and in love with the South Carolina wildness that nurtured me.  A native of Edgefield County (down Ropers Crossroad  10 minutes from Old MacDonald’s Fish Camp and 5 from Buck Tyler’s Taxidermy Studio), I  grew up amidst the forests, fields and creek bottoms of the western piedmont.  My fondest memories from my childhood are the endless hours spent exploring the woods around our small farm that sat in the middle of the Sumter National Forest.  Back then, there were only 3 television channels, no Play Station or Internet to way lay what I consider an essential education—the lessons learned from nature.  I am most thankful for parents who gave me the freedom to roam the wildness and for a state that has valued the land stewardship ethic espoused by Aldo Leopold.
My way of life---our way of life—in the Palmetto State has always been defined by our relationship with nature. 

From the patriot’s knowledge that pulpy palmetto logs would abate cannon shot to our current science-grounded understanding that prescribed fire is a pro-active friend to our forests and citizens – we depend on the goods and services that nature supplies.  In my trips afield, whether it is to hunt whitetail deer, pursue wild turkey or to watch birds, I am constantly reminded of just how fortunate we are to live in South Carolina. From the mountain coves in Jocassee Gorges, to the longleaf pine forests of the Sand Hills and down to the marshes of the ACE basin, we can be proud of the outdoor bounty that draws others to want to live here.  The very spirit of our being flows through the Santee River, and blows through Beidler’s ancient bald cypress.  I want to do all that I can to implore you, our elected leaders, to not take our natural resources and the state agencies charged with nurturing and managing them for granted.

There are wild places that need care and creatures that need those places.  We are among those creatures.  It is shameful to have places where we can’t drink the water or eat the fish that swim in it. Where the water is polluted we need to clean it.  Catastrophic wildfires and the sad consequences of families losing their homes might be abated if we engaged forest management proactively. Where the pine forests are too thickly stocked with diseased trees, we need to restore them with tools like thinning and prescribed fire.  Where populations of sensitive wildlife species are dwindling ever smaller, we need the science and management to pull them back from the brink. 

I would like to think that it is not for a lack of caring or concern that we have taken things for granted.  It is a bottom line society in which we live.  That bottom line is dollars and unfortunately, in the severely constricted economic times in which we now find ourselves, natural resources somehow seem to always be the first to suffer.  

Here are some bottom lines for you to consider.  A 2008 study from The Palmetto Agri-Business Council shows forestry is the state leader in industrial manufacturing, employment and wages.  Forestry provides tens of thousands of jobs (44,708) inputting billions of dollars ($2.4) a year in labor income. Together, forestry, agriculture, outdoor recreation and tourism are South Carolina’s top economic drivers, contributing $50 BILLION to the bottom line and over a quarter million jobs annually.  The bottom line is that our natural resource agencies deliver a significant economic return on a relatively small investment of public dollars, yet their combined funding comprises less than 1% of the state budget. 

The conservation community stands united in calling your attention to the fact that past cuts already threaten the core operations of our natural resource agencies.  For example:
• DNR’s budget was reduced by 41% last year, 75 conservation officer positions have been cut since 2000, and reduced water quality monitoring has put our rivers, lakes, and marine fisheries at risk.
• The Department of Agriculture’s budget was cut 35%, including reduced laboratory and consumer services for inspecting fuel pumps and testing foods, feeds and seeds.
• The Forestry Commission’s budget was reduced over 33% and approximately 40 positions are unfilled. The firefighting equipment budget is depleted, placing property and lives at risk in the event of wildfires.
• Park Recreation and Tourism’s budget was reduced by 49% and 89 jobs are vacant - 18% of the workforce.

We make the case today that we invest in our state’s economy by increasing – not cutting – the funding for our natural resource agencies.  We are talking about resources – state parks, state natural areas, state forests, vistas, wildlife, fish, water and air – that are owned by all the citizens of South Carolina – and the General Assembly and these agencies are the caretakers of these jewels and those that hold these assets in trust for future generations.

So what is a stand of long leaf pine, a row of corn or a painted bunting worth?  Whether we are foresters or farmers or hunters or wildlife watchers, we should not ignore the important ecological functions that farms, forests and habitats serve.

Here are some more figures.  In 2008 hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing through value-added monies, and labor income contributed $3.7 billion dollars to the SC economy.  Over 58,000 jobs could be linked to those nature based activities.  People participated in non hunting outdoor activities almost 180 million times in 2008 with bird watchers leading the way.  Data from SCDNR and PRT show that through labor income and employment, natural resources impacted SC last year by pouring almost $8 billion dollars into the state’s economy while employing more than 235,000 people.  Do the math.  Every single deer, every last duck each sand dollar means something to our state—in ways that are easily measureable in dollars but  incalculable in contributions to ecological health and sustainability….and to our spirits.

There’s a place in my neck of the woods, in the Jocassee Gorges, called “Jumping off Rock” where you can see the world and all its possibilities open up before you.  I think that now we are at a different sort of precipice –a dangerous one that offers a not so pleasant view of different and debilitating possibilities. What we see before us now is the possibility of South Carolina losing the natural resources legacy it has worked so hard to protect.  Funding has taken a plunge that it will be hard to recover from.  Bone deep program cuts across state agencies and within university departments that deliver outreach, research and education to our citizens are spiraling to points beyond which we may not be able to recover.  We have already tied the hands of the foresters, wildlife and fisheries biologists, and environmental scientists.  Now we are cutting them off. The best and brightest students who might serve us as natural resources professionals into the future see no future in agencies and educational programs that consistently have to get by with less support at every turn around. Why invest one’s personal future in something that our legislature sees unimportant enough to give the few drams that are left?  It is a dangerous precedent which we dance perilously close to.  By doing so we imperil the natural resources on which we depend. 

I am not naïve. Money is unfortunately something that we cannot do much without.  But understanding that money is an essential component of how we sustain our way of life should not overshadow the fact that air , water, forests and wildlife are no less important and in fact, my precede money in importance to our survival.  Imagine squeezing cool, clear water from money.  A dollar bill produces not one ounce of oxygen and provides pitifully poor sporting opportunity in the field.  Our natural resources deserve so much more than the budgetary leftovers.  After all, the nature of South Carolina represents some of the best of what we stand for.  I would imagine that almost everyone in South Carolina can reflect upon some moment when nature enriched them.  Maybe it was a sunrise over the Atlantic or a sunset behind the Blue Ridge.  Perhaps it was the sweet smell of the piney woods after a rain or the feel of warm, sugar-soft sand underfoot on the Grand Strand.  Maybe it is the simple right to breathe clean air and drink clean water.  The citizens of South Carolina, all of us, owe have a responsibility for stewardship.  Mathew 6:21 states that “Where you treasure lies, there your heart will lie also. “  The Palmetto State’s treasures lie in wild places—and in its ability to sustainably manage these things for all people and into future generations. I hope that one day my grandchildren will be able to appreciate some of the joys I did as a boy back in Edgefield—jumping puddles, flushing bobwhite, fishing for warmouth in a frothy creek. Let’s make sure that happens. Let’s put our money where our hearts are.  Our very lives depend on it.

Thank you.