Rewarding Private Conservation

Private property can be nature's best friend

The Center for Private Conservation (CPC) held its third annual private conservation award ceremony this past weekend at Natural Bridge in Virginia. The award was presented to the owners of the 1,600-acre site, Angelo and Millie Puglisi, by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton. "No Washington law ordered the owners of Natural Bridge to keep the wildflowers or protect the huge diversity of bird species that live here," Norton declared. She praised the Puglisis as worthy examples of stewardship that protects and enhances the environmental quality of privately owned landscapes.

I have driven over Natural Bridge on U.S. Highway 11 for many years and never bothered to stop, dismissing it as just another cheesy roadside attraction. But when you pause to contemplate it, you realize it's a stunning natural wonder. Thomas Jefferson purchased Natural Bridge for 20 shillings from King George III in 1774. Jefferson called Natural Bridge "one of the most sublime of nature's works" and he hoped "Natural Bridge will yet be a famous place." The Puglisis, who bought Natural Bridge in 1986, have worked to preserve its natural setting and its wildlife habitat. Some 300,000 people now visit it annually.

Monacan Indian Chief Kenneth Branham also spoke at the award ceremony, saying, "we consider the bridge to be a very sacred spot." Apparently, Monacan legend has it that the bridge was miraculously formed by the Creator as an escape route for a band of Monacans who were being attacked some 2,000 years ago. Now with the cooperation of the Puglisis, the Monacan Indians are building a traditional village on site as both an educational opportunity and a spiritual exercise.

Even as the CPC properly honored the Puglisis for their private stewardship of this natural treasure, government employees proved that they are still government employees, even if one of them is a Republican cabinet secretary. In her speech, Gale Norton touted as a "bold step" the Department of the Interior's new Cooperative Conservation Initiative, which will hand out $100 million to encourage landowners to undertake conservation projects.

Another federal dignitary at the event was Mark Rey, the deputy undersecretary for natural resources and environment in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Rey too came bearing federal gifts. He pointed out that the farm bill now before Congress is loaded with money to encourage landowners to engage in conservation activities. Rey also mentioned that the USDA is launching a new program in its Natural Resources Conservation Service in which corporate sponsors would support private conservation assistance. In return for their donations, corporations would be able to affix an appropriate seal on their products noting their support of private stewardship efforts.

Those Bush administration initiatives are certainly far less intrusive than earlier environmental legislation such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA). R.J. Smith, a senior scholar at the CPC, explained at the award ceremony how private efforts in the early part of the 20th century restored severely depleted wood duck populations. Wood ducks are cavity nesters; that is, they need suitably sized holes in trees in which to nest. Overhunting and the removal of forest cover east of the Mississippi River were pushing wood duck populations down.

Private groups like the Friends of the Wood Duck devised a perfect artificial nest box that prevented raccoons from stealing duck eggs. Those private organizations then persuaded landowners to deploy more than 100,000 of the nest boxes. Consequently, wood ducks are now the second commonest duck in the eastern flyway. "That all happened voluntarily," Smith explained. "Landowners were not afraid to help the wood duck recover. However, today under the Endangered Species Act, if someone devised a nest box for spotted owls and asked landowners to deploy them, nobody in his right mind would say yes."

Why? Because rather than encouraging landowners to attract and nurture endangered species, the ESA instead attracts pesky federal regulators who can deprive landowners of the use of much of their property in the name of protecting species.

All environmental problems occur in open-access commons—areas like rivers, airsheds, and fisheries—that no one owns and no one has a responsibility to protect. Political management has generally been the way we have tried to handle the problems caused by the institution of open-access commons. The CPC is pointing to how private property can effectively deal with environmental problems. "An owner who neglects or harms what he owns is soon out of business and is replaced by somebody better," noted Smith.

Most land in the United States is privately owned, so Becky Norton Dunlop, former Virginia secretary of natural resources, was correct when she insisted, "Most opportunities for protecting the environment lie in the protection and extension of private property rights. We don't want the government to own more land. We want the government not to stand in the way of private property owners who use their intimate knowledge of their land and their abilities to protect and steward their land."