Conservation easements and the conservation movement

Excerpt

INITIAL response to the concept of using the purchase of conservation easements to address the farm credit crisis has been favorable (see “Conservation Easements: A Credit Crisis Compromise,” JSWC, March-April, 1985, pp. 217-218). Banking, farm, government, and conservation leaders recognize a great political appeal in the concept.

This leads one to wonder if the soil and water conservation movement is ready and willing to accept a method used mainly by wildlife managers, land preservationists, water control officers, and recreation planners.

The immediate reaction should be that any additional federal support for soil and water conservation is good news. All help is welcomed, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture's national plan shows current programs providing only a one percent annual reduction in excessive cropland erosion, a two percent annual reduction in water-borne sediments from agricultural sources, and es sentially no change in the rate of groundwater depletion. Simply maintaining this inadequate rate of progress may be a major victory, given the administration's desire to eliminate the Soil Conservation Service and the Agricultural Conservation Program.

Beyond this promise of progress, however, are questions about the long-term wisdom of using easements rather …