Many of these programs work in partnership with diverse groups including conservation organizations, farm organizations and hunting groups. WHIP provides cost-share assistance for landowners to develop habitat for upland and wetland wildlife and threatened and endangered species. A good deal of wildlife protection also occurs secondarily to the primary goals of conservation programs. Overall, most wildlife constituents have been frustrated by the relatively low priority that is placed on protecting wildlife habitat in agricultural conservation programs. Given limited federal resources and the fact that wildlife benefit from programs targeted to other environmental objectives, some view other environmental issues as more pressing than wildlife and think funds should go to water quality protection, supply or erosion control.
Concerns also apply to specific programs.
For example, despite CRP's value as a habitat protection tool and the fact that wildlife groups effectively lobbied to save the program from elimination in the 1996 Farm Bill, criticism has been directed toward how habitat considerations are implemented in the program. The ESA is surrounded by tension and controversy from a variety of constituents. 1993 November 2. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Corn, M. Lynne.