Excerpt
SOME years ago, Florida's alligator population was endangered by people who made a profit by turning them into shoes, belts, and handbags. Concerned citizens prevailed upon the legislature to enact laws to prohibit killing of alligators. The plan worked, but it produced unexpected consequences. Within a very few years, Florida was knee deep in alligators. In search of food, the alligators moved in on population centers, including retention ponds in subdivisions and city parks. First, household pets, then small children were attacked. Citizens were unable to kill the alligators because of the law. After years of inconvenience, economic loss, and child fatalities, common sense prevailed to balance the zeal of concerned citizens, and the alligator law was modified.
The Food Security Act of 1985 is the result of a great many concerned citizens, including the Land Improvement Contractors of America (LICA), who recognized the need to prevent further degradation of highly erodible land, to protect streams from sedimentation, and to prevent the loss of wetlands to agriculture and commercial development. The plan is working-but not without unexpected consequences.
The success or failure …
Footnotes
Jim Jacobs is chairman of the Board of Directors of the Land Improvement Contractors of America, 1300 Maybrook Drive, P.O. Box 9, Maywood, Illinois 60153. This article is based on a speech by Jacobs at the 1989 meeting of LICA's Ohio Chapter.
- Copyright 1989 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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