Private lands can be more effectively managed for conservation and ecological values.
The benefits of private stewardship efforts will be emphasized, which can result in the realization that:
All land does not have to be purchased with public money or tied down with permanent restrictions to protect its environmental resources;
Many environmental objectives can be met through cooperative, incentive-based partnerships with private landowners that capitalize on these owners' deep love and knowledge of their land;
There is not enough money to buy or manage all the land that contributes to the nation's environmental welfare;
Government cannot outlaw all destructive uses of lands in private ownership through regulatory approaches;
It is much less expensive — and sometimes much more effective — to hire private landowners to care for and maintain important ecological values, since this approach gives landowners an economic incentive for carrying out these activities and costs less than 1% of public land acquisition, because there is no cost for land acquisition, no loss of local property tax revenues, no loss of economic production, no loss of jobs, and payments only for management services, that would be paid anyway if the land was to be adequately managed by a public agency. (See comment from DCA under Endnote.)
Loss of funds to properly manage public lands — which can lead to the degradation and destruction of these lands and their ecological values — is not a concern, since the only cost of the landowner incentive programs is for the management services rendered, and these funds do not rely on annual appropriations, but would be paid into a dedicated fund managed by an independent third party at the onset of each agreement.
Land acquisition programs do not appeal to most farmers, ranchers, small woodland owners and timber companies (who own 70 percent of the total U.S. land area) because they do not want to sell their land. The majority of these landowners also are wary about permanent conservation easements because of deep uncertainty about the future viability of the nation's agricultural industry. Many landowners are simply unwilling make permanent commitments for themselves (or the next generation), when they are not sure how long they can continue the land uses — such as farming, ranching and timber production — that generate the operating capital that is necessary to sustain these agreements.
Private stewardship initiatives will build on, support and encourage the use of every other type of existing conservation tool, while filling in gaps that current tools do not address.
The amount of land managed for conservation purposes can be greatly expanded through private stewardship incentives.
These actions also ensure economic uses of the land can continue, compatible with its environmental values.
In addition, they offer a way to generate revenues from publicly-owned lands, and to use the knowledge and skills of ranchers and farmers to manage environmental resources, provide recreation opportunities and pursue agricultural activities, where appropriate, thus providing an opportunity to provide better management and more intelligent use of public lands.
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& Maintained by The Mousepad, Inc.
Send email comments and inquiries to: info@privatelands.org
Opening photo from Corel Draw 6
Copyright 2000 by Florida Stewardship Foundation | All rights reserved.
