Dan Ashe was sworn in as the 16th director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on June 30. President Obama had nominated Ashe to head up the nation’s principal federal agency dedicated to the conservation of fish and wildlife and their habitats last December. Thanks to his father’s 37-year career at Fish and Wildlife, Ashe is in fact a lifelong veteran of the service. After receiving his Master’s degree from the University of Washington, the Atlanta native spent 13 years working on Capitol Hill before joining Fish and Wildlife. He subsequently served as the service’s assistant director for external affairs from 1995 to 1998, as the chief of the National Wildlife Refuge System from 1998 to 2003, as science advisor to the director of the service from 2003 to 2009, and, most recently, as the service’s deputy director for policy.

Said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, “Dan Ashe has served with distinction and integrity in the Fish and Wildlife Service for more than 15 years. He has worked tirelessly to prepare the Service to meet the resource challenges of the 21st century, and his leadership and vision have never been more necessary. I’m excited to work with him to foster innovative science-driven conservation programs and policies to benefit our nation’s fish and wildlife and its habitat.”

Said Ashe, “I’m humbled by the trust that the Secretary and the President have placed in me, and most of all, by the responsibility of leading the finest wildlife conservation organization in the world. As director, I will strive to create an atmosphere where we can bring to bear our collective imagination, our tenacity, and our commitment to public service to address today’s challenges to the future of our nation’s fish and wildlife heritage.”

Read more HERE.

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There’s a lot of ground to cover in the July edition of The Land Report newsletter: auctions, equities, timberland, and several political developments affecting landowners, ranging from the passage of key legislation by the Texas Legislature to the appointment of Dan Ashe to head the federal agency that many landowners know on a firsthand basis, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

From a research standpoint, a new frontrunner has emerged atop The Land Report Top Ten, which features the country’s leading investment quality land listings. Count on The Magazine of the American Landowner to follow the $100 million listing of Wyoming’s Walton Ranch by Ranch Marketing Associates in the months ahead.

For more up to the minute reports on listings, sales, and countless other stories pertaining to land and landowners, be sure to follow The Magazine of the American Landowner on Facebook and Twitter.

P.S. Our award-winning quarterly magazine is available in a print version via subscription.

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The second session of the 111th Congress is already under way, and landowners have a lot at stake. With that in mind, The Land Report turns to Scott Jones to get the inside scoop on Washington’s next steps. Since 2003, Jones has been the CEO of the Forest Landowners Association (FLA), whose members own and operate some 40 million acres of forestland in 48 states. Founded in 1941, FLA offers education, information, and national grassroots advocacy with the goal of sustaining forestlands from one generation to the next.

With so many bold initiatives taken on by the Obama administration, what are the chances of a climate bill passing this year? Would it benefit forest landowners?

American voters believe that a climate/cap-and-trade bill may cost jobs; as a result, I would not be surprised to see the climate portion of the energy bill removed. If crafted properly, an energy bill could benefit private forest landowners by creating new markets for wood. However, the definition of “woody biomass” still needs to be fixed for landowners to truly benefit from the stripped down version of the bill.

The federal estate tax dropped to zero this year. Do you expect it to return to 55 percent with a $1 million exemption as scheduled in 2011?

There do not appear to be enough votes to bring the death tax back to life in 2010. Sen. Scott Brown’s (R-MA) recent election created a political barrier to retroactive death tax reinstatement. Unless legislative action is taken, the tax is scheduled to permanently return at a rate as high as 55 percent in 2011. But this is an election year, so anything is possible. Polls indicate 65 to 70 percent of Americans want the tax repealed.

Name one other issue landowners should follow closely.

The Clean Water Restoration Act is definitely legislation every landowner should keep an eye on. It seeks to expand the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act by redefining “navigable waters” as “waters of the United States.” The consequences of this bill are enormous, and it has already created a firestorm in the Senate. Strong opposition convinced Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN) to delay introducing the bill on the House side. Oberstar now intends to move the bill through the House by the end of 2010.

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The current issue of The Land Report takes an in-depth look at Obama Administration and the American Landowner. Since that issue came off the press, the President has already been faced with a crucial task: nominating a replacement for Supreme Court Associate Justice David Souter. His choice? Federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor.

Next Monday, July 13, the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin her confirmation hearings. Landowners will be paying particular attention to Judge Sotomayor regarding property rights, in particular, Kelo v. City of New London, the controversial 2005 decision that sparked a national uproar. What will her stance be? Insight can be gleaned from her role in an important test of Kelo that took place in 2006: Didden v. Village of Port Chester.

According to The New York Times:

The case arose from a meeting in 2003 between Mr. Didden, who owned property in Port Chester, N.Y., and an executive of a company that had been designated by the village to develop a 27-acre urban renewal area that included part of the property. What happened at that meeting, Mr. Didden said, amounted to extortion.

Mr. Didden had made arrangements to put a CVS drug store on his lot. At the meeting, the executive, Gregg Wasser, demanded $800,000 as the price for permission to proceed with that project, Mr. Didden said in court papers. The alternative, Mr. Wasser said, according to the papers, was to have the village condemn Mr. Didden’s property so that Mr. Wasser’s company could put a Walgreen’s in the same place.

“Here is a private person standing in the shoes of the government with the power to condemn or not condemn,” Mr. Didden said. “The $800,000 wasn’t going to rehabilitate a public park or build a soccer stadium. It was going into his pocket.”

Mr. Didden refused. The next day the village condemned his property.

As The Times points out, when Didden’s appeal reached the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, his case was rejected with a terse, unsigned decision. The response has not been favorable:

The ruling in Didden is not popular among some property rights and constitutional law professors. Eight of them filed a brief in 2006 unsuccessfully urging the Supreme Court to hear an appeal.

“This is the worst federal court takings decision since Kelo,” said Ilya Somin, who teaches property law at George Mason University and helped write the brief. “It’s very extreme, and it is significant as a window into Judge Sotomayor’s attitudes toward private property.”

Read more at:

“Issue of Property Rights Is Likely to Arise in Sotomayor’s Confirmation Hearings,” New York Times, June 15, 2009

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THE PRESIDENT ON POLICY: On the campaign trail, Obama promised to put “an unprecedented level of emphasis on the conservation of private lands.” He has backed conservation efforts — everything from the “Roadless Rule,” which limits development in wilderness areas; to the Conservation Reserve Program; to a measure backed by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) that would reallocate $2 billion in federal funds by cutting payments to farmers and putting the money into land conservation.

THE PRESIDENT’S PERSONAL LAND: The 43rd President, George W. Bush, hosted heads of state and lead the Free World from his 1,583-acre ranch in Crawford, Texas. Obama’s real property holdings are strictly urban: a $1.6 million house in Chicago’s Kenwood neighborhood and 200-year-old corporate digs in D.C. provided by his employer.

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KEN SALAZAR
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

THE DEPARTMENT: Interior is the most influential department when it comes to policies affecting landowners. Covered under its jurisdictional umbrella are the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Mineral Management Services, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

THE NEW SECRETARY: A senator from Colorado since 2004, Salazar and his brother John (who serves in the U.S. House of Representatives) and six other siblings grew up on a 1,200 acre ranch near the San Antonio River that was originally settled in the 1860s by their great-great grandfather Francisco. Their childhood home had no electricity or running water. Salazar will be one of the most recognizable cabinet secretaries, thanks to the cowboy hat he wears regularly with business attire.

THE EXPECTATIONS: Environmental and conservation groups praised Salazar’s appointment, even though he has not always been their favorite senator. Still, they like the fact that Salazar has long been an advocate of national parks protections, and a critic of oil and gas development on public lands in the western U.S. Cabinet watchers believe that will translate into a rollback of George W. Bush’s moves to open some federal lands to drilling — particularly in Utah. And, landowner groups, especially ranching groups, also have had kind words so far.

TOM VILSACK
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

THE DEPARTMENT: A powerhouse both in Washington and in rural America, the USDA does everything from providing support to family farmers to regulating food safety.

THE NEW SECRETARY: Vilsack was a two-term governor of Iowa when, in 2006, he became a Democratic presidential primary opponent of Obama. His campaign fizzled almost immediately and he dropped out after three months, eventually becoming co-chairman of Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Apparently the new president isn’t holding any grudges against Vilsack.

THE EXPECTATIONS: The challenges for Vilsack are significant thanks to the current recession. The credit crisis has squeezed farmers; once-hot commodities are now sinking in value; and farmers big and small are cutting jobs to stay profitable. That’s put rural America, which depends on federal policymakers for direction, market regulation, and, often, hard cash, in a worrisome mood.

STEPHEN CHU
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

THE DEPARTMENT: The main regulator of industries who generate and supply power — in all its literal forms — the Energy Department also funds hundreds of scientific research projects.
THE NEW SECRETARY: Chu is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, the first Nobel winner selected to a presidential cabinet. He is also the former head of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

THE EXPECTATIONS: Obama made a plethora of campaign pledges related to energy, and it’ll be Chu’s job to try and deliver. He’ll push to cap greenhouse gas emissions, change regulations related to offshore drilling, and move the U.S. away from foreign oil, in part by creating tax breaks and other incentives for development of renewable energy — including wind farms, which are of particular interest to large landowners such as T. Boone Pickens, whose Mesa Vista Ranch was featured in the Fall 2008 issue.

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ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT: The most significant changes to the nation’s most important rule for protecting wildlife came under President Bush. And no change was more substantial than the one that came just weeks before Bush was to leave office. Under a new rule announced by both the Interior Department and Commerce Department, federal agencies will no longer need to consult with independent wildlife experts — or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — to determine if any of their projects might have an impact on a given endangered species.

• THE IMPACT ON LANDOWNERS: Mixed. A boon for those hoping to see specific projects proceed at a faster pace. A curse for those hoping to either bolster protections for certain species or use the Endangered Species Law to prevent the feds from pushing through new dams, highways, et cetera.
 
MONUMENTAL NATIONAL MONUMENT EXPANSION: Just days before he left office, Bush designated some 195,280 square miles as “national monuments.” But don’t expect marble sculptures to be erected there anytime soon. Most of the areas that are now protected from development, mining, or oil exploration, are underwater. They include various reefs and sea floors in the Pacific Ocean — parts of the Mariana Trench among them.

• IMPACT ON LANDOWNERS: Positive. True, private landowners don’t have property 20,000 leagues under the sea. But, by focusing on protecting so much of the ocean from commercial use, Bush spared landowners from the kind of 11th-hour protections that other presidents have employed.

A ROADLESS RULE TO NOWHERE: The Bush Administration spent eight years trying to rewrite Clinton Administration rulemaking that prevented commercial activity in road less wilderness areas.

• IMPACT ON LANDOWNERS: Mixed. For landowners whose properties abut federal lands that are not designated as federal wilderness areas, whether Bush’s efforts to change Clinton’s rules were good or bad is a matter of perspective.

DRILL, BABY, DRILL: As Barack Obama was planning his train trip from Philadelphia to Washington, President Bush and his Interior Department were proposing a major expansion to oil and gas drilling areas on both coasts.

• IMPACT ON LANDOWERS: Negative. Though some private landowners could stand to profit from expanded offshore drilling, Obama has already said he intends to explore a comprehensive energy policy before deciding whether or where that kind of expansion should take place.

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Some lawmakers want to roll back rules put in place by the Bush Administration. Others want Obama’s White House to put more money into land and less into tax breaks as a means to boost the economy.

Here’s a rundown on several key legislators and their committees — all of whom are worth watching as the year progresses. A complete review of the key players will be featured as the cover story of the Spring 2009 Land Report.

THE SENATE

COMMITTEE: Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
RETURNING CHAIR: Jeff Bingaman, D-New Mexico
RANKING REPUBLICAN: Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico
BATTLE LINES: Though he’s an advocate of “green” policies, Bingaman has introduced a $10 billion legislative package that bundles 160 different bills into a single proposal. A single proposal that runs 1,300 pages long, that is. The Omnibus Lands Management Act seeks to capitalize on the new weakness of Senate Republicans, who have blocked some of the 160 measures it contains.

COMMITTEE: Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
RETURNING CHAIR: Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. 
RANKING REPUBLICAN: Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia
BATTLE LINES: We know this: There won’t be a fight over President-Elect Obama’s choice of agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack. Harkin has already thrown his support behind Vilsack, a fellow Iowan, and Harkin’s committee will hold Vilsack’s confirmation hearings.

COMMITTEE: Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
RETURNING CHAIR: Barbara Boxer, D-California.
RANKING REPUBLICAN: James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma
BATTLE LINES: Boxer, like Harkin, also will ask the Obama Administration to ramp up spending to boost the economy. In particular, she’ll seek more funds for waterway projects.

THE HOUSE

COMMITTEE: House Committee on Energy and Commerce
NEW CHAIR: Henry Waxman, D-California.
RANKING REPUBLICAN: Joe Barton, R-Texas
BATTLE LINES: Waxman toppled Dingell in part because he promised to push for stricter laws on greenhouse gas emission. That may mean a crackdown on coal producers, whom Waxman has targeted in previous legislation.

COMMITTEE: House Committee on Natural Resources
RETURNING CHAIR: Nick Rahall, West Virginia.
RANKING REPUBLICAN: Doc Hastings, R-Washington
BATTLE LINES: Though his party is now fully in charge of Congress and the White House, Rahall may still have a fight on his hands with Rep. Waxman on coal (see above) as well as with the outgoing Bush Administration.

COMMITTEE: House Committee on Agriculture
RETURNING CHAIR: Collin Peterson, D-Minnesota.
RANKING REPUBLICAN: Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia.
BATTLE LINES: Just a year into his chairmanship, Peterson led the charge in the House to buck President Bush’s second veto of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, aka, the Farm Bill. In the current Congress, Peterson will be called on to press for more regulation of commodity futures markets, which have been extremely volatile in the current recession.

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Salazar is no stranger to readers of The Land Report. As you may recall, the Colorado native has been one of the staunchest opponents of the Pinon Canyon expansion in the southeast portion of the Centennial State. The proposed expansion of the Fort Carson training ground includes doubling the size of a military exercise area by acquiring land owned primarily by locally owned cattle operations.

Salazar and his brother John, a U.S. congressman, are fifth-generation Coloradans who grew up working on a family-owned ranch in the San Luis Valley of Southern Colorado. After studying political science at Colorado College and earning a law degree from Michigan, he rose to political prominence as Colorado’s attorney general. He won his Senate seat in 2004.

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With Sen. Barack Obama talking about raising long-term capital gains tax from the current rate of 15 percent, it should come as no surprise that some sellers might be a bit more motivated to unload property in the near future. “That’s the big problem—uncertainty from government and economy,” Charlie Israel of Outdoor Investment in Birmingham says.

Kerry Mormann is seeing a similar dearth of lower-end buyers in California. Not that he has a lot of lower-end properties. Mormann specializes in ranches, vineyards, and other land in and around Santa Barbara County. In 2007, he sold over $200 million in property, but he doesn’t expect his 2008 numbers to be near that total. Still, he has no shortage of high-end buyers.

“The beginning of the 2008—January and February—we saw very good activity in the upper-end and unique properties,” Mormann says. “It’s all about location. There’s a limited supply, and there’s active demand. But there’s no question there’s been a slowing in last few months. There’s just no sense of urgency like there was.” Adding to the problem is the predominance of bad economic news. “There’s just a lot of uncertainty—the election, world affairs, the economy—too many what-ifs,” he says.

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