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Grassland Foundation Advocates for Local Control
Tyler Sutton, President of the Lincoln-based Grassland Foundation
The Grassland Foundation's 2005 “Economic Benefits of Grassland Protected Areas” report examined the impact of a hypothetical locally controlled conservation trust acquiring 400,000 acres of grassland to manage as a prairie preserve. You can read the discussion in our report, which is on our website, beginning on page 50.
The analysis was intended to focus attention on the potential economic benefits of coordinated activities. But it clearly advocated for local control and voluntary cooperation.
The hypothetical analysis concluded that private land owners and rural communities would benefit financially from wildlife recreation (hunting, wildlife viewing, hiking, horseback riding, etc.) on large grassland reserves. The report called for further study of this potential and for further discussion about new and innovative ways to create such reserves through voluntary, collaborative, and locally controlled arrangements.
There was no proposal to buy any amount of land in Arthur County, Nebraska .
To be clear, the Grassland Foundation does not advocate for the direct large-scale acquisition of grassland in Nebraska by the federal or state government.The Grassland Foundation does not own conservation land or hold conservation easements. We advocate for local control and the voluntary, collaborative participation of private land owners and other partners in wildlife management and rural development programs. To the extent a resolution passed recently by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission in response to our report suggested otherwise, it misstated our position.
We recognize the importance of the cattle economy to Nebraska. You can read our statement on private lands ranching on our website. We believe cattle should be "king" on the Nebraska range, even though we advocate for innovative ways to enhance wildlife habitat and species diversity. We do not believe wildlife recreation should replace grazing as the primary economic use of Nebraska 's private grazing lands.
Indeed, the good news is that grazing and fee-based wildlife recreation are highly compatible. They can reinforce each other to strengthen economically family ranching and rural communities. That's why we strongly support conservation strategies that keep ranchers ranching and which can, at the same time protect the environment and improve local economies.
Wildlife recreation is a multi-billion dollar activity in the United States which offers a huge potential source of additional income for landowners and rural communities in Nebraska that adopt entrepreneurial, innovative and locally controlled land management practices and business strategies.
A number of individual working cattle ranches already provide fee-based wildlife recreation and make money doing it. They could probably make more money if they voluntarily coordinated certain land management practices and business strategies to enhance those opportunities by providing access to more land, better wildlife management and marketing, and by sharing the cost of infrastructure, while still maintaining their individual cattle ranching operations.
Voluntary arrangements among private landowners are one type of grassland reserve or private nature reserve. There need be NO government involvement of any kind to create them. These arrangements will enhance, not diminish private property rights.
We do believe the federal, state and local government, University of Nebraska and conservation organizations have a legitimate role in rural development policy, and in conservation planning, research, education and outreach, and that they should support and fund conservation innovation involving grasslands. Innovation will bring ecological and economic benefits to the entire state.
Our report was a discussion document, not the final word on how to increase economic opportunity and encourage better wildlife management. We regret any confusion the title of one chapter may have caused, but we believe the evidence supports incorporating the creation of large grassland reserves through voluntary arrangements into the rural development and wildlife conservation policy discussion. We therefore invite thoughtful discussion and commentary on this suggestion. Whether this suggestion is actually ever implemented should ultimately depend on actions taken by private lands owners and local communities.
You can read the “Economic Benefits of Grassland Protected Areas” report for yourself here.