Ricketts to discuss 30x30 plan with Gage County

The 30x30 program is a plan to permanently protect 30% of America’s land and oceans by 2030, and was adopted by the Biden Administration through Executive Order 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad”, and signed Jan. 27, 2021.

Ricketts has referred to the plan as the “30x30 Land Grab," and the rally in Pickrell will be one of nearly half a dozen meetings he has held in opposition.

Ricketts cited National Geographic in saying that 12% of U.S. land is already being conserved. He said roughly 440 million acres of land would need to be added to reach 30%, noting that’s roughly the size of Nebraska each year until 2030.

“That’s a tremendous amount of land, and in Nebraska, 90% of our land is privately owned,” Ricketts said. “That means if you’re going to set aside 30% into conservation, you’re going to restrict its use. By law, if you restrict the use of land, its assessment for property tax goes down. That means everybody else’s property taxes goes up.”

Ricketts said the land being conserved would also largely be in rural areas, which would restrict that land being used for agriculture.

“If you restrict 30% of this land from agricultural use, that puts more pressure on the remaining land to be more productive,” Ricketts said. “It would drive up land prices, making it more difficult for young farmers and ranchers to get in. It’ll mean property taxes would go up. It would mean food prices would go up. So this plan has all sorts of consequences for our state, the nation and even the world, depending on how they try to implement it.”

In April, Ricketts and 14 other governors to joined in submitting a letter to the Biden Administration addressing the aforementioned concerns with 30x30, and questioning how they plan to implement it. Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson and the attorney general of Kansas issued their own letter of concern, and Nebraska’s largest farm group, the Farm Bureau, also expressed worry, and called for giving farm groups a voice in the plan.

“We’ve not heard a response back from the President on that, by the way,” Ricketts said. “What they have published is their America the Beautiful plan, and that’s just very vague, and says they want to work locally and voluntarily with people. But here’s the deal. We’ve had voluntary conservation programs, like the Conservation Reserve Program, for decades, and we’re at 12%. So either the federal government is not going to reach their goal, because they’re going to continue to use the current programs that have not gotten us there, or they’re not telling us how they’re going to do it.”

The issue has prompted at least 23 rural counties to pass resolutions opposing the 30x30 plan. Ricketts noted that U.S. Reps. Adrian Smith and Don Bacon, both Republicans, have signed onto a House proposal to kill the plan, and U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse are backing a Senate bill to do the same.

“Not only do we want counties to pass resolutions, but anybody who collects property taxes can pass a resolution because of how it undermines the property tax base of our counties and our rural areas,” Ricketts said. “It is one of those things where school boards are passing this, to say they oppose 30x30, because it would impact the ability to pay for schools. Part of what a resolution does is really helps to raise awareness so that people will get engaged and find out more about it.”

Ricketts said he wants people to know that if they sign a conservation easement in Nebraska, that easement is permanent unless a limited number of years is contractually stated.

“We also want counties to know they have the authority under Nebraska law to approve or deny conservation easements,” Ricketts said. “We want people to know if their CRP is coming up for renewal they should read the fine print.”

Advocates of 30x30 have expressed concerns with the main group opposing initiative, the Texas-based American Stewards of Liberty, and questioned whether they are linked to anti-government groups like the Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1970s and 1980s, in which some ranchers defied rules for grazing on federal lands.

“American Stewards of Liberty are a group that looks to protect private property rights,” Ricketts said. “So yes, Margaret Byfield, who is the person we’ve been working with, her father was in a lawsuit with the federal government over land use. But I would point out, that was a lawsuit. It is perfectly legal to express your disagreements, especially with the federal government, through the course of law. That is following the law.”

Ricketts also noted that in 2019, the 30x30 plan was called for in a senate resolution by then-Senator Kamala Harris, and as a house resolution by then-Congresswoman Deb Haaland. Harris and Haaland are now Vice President and Secretary of the Department of the Interior for the Biden Administration, respectively.

“You have two very powerful people behind this,” Ricketts said. “Anyone who pays property taxes ought to be concerned. It will potentially impact everybody. We just don’t know, because the Biden administration isn’t giving any details.”

The 4 Generations barn is located at 9438 U.S. Highway 77 near Pickrell.