Table of Contents | Chapter 4 | Chapter 6
Chapter 5
Natural Resources Stewardship
Stewardship is an
essential concept that helps to define appropriate
human interaction with the
natural world. An ethic of
stewardship builds on collaborative
approaches; ecosystem integrity;
and incentives in such areas as
agricultural resources
management, sustainable forestry,
flsheries, restoration, and
biodiversity conservation.
AMERICA IS BLESSED with an abundance of natural resources which
provide both the foundation for its powerful and vibrant economy and
serve as the source of aesthetic inspiration and spiritual sustenance for
many. Continued prosperity depends on the country's ability to protect
this natural heritage and learn to use it in ways that do not diminish it.
Stewardship is at the core of this obligation. It calls upon everyone
in society to assume responsibility for protecting the integrity of
natural resources and their underlying ecosystems and, in so doing,
safeguarding the interests of future generations. Without personal
and collective commitment, without an ethic based on the acceptance of
responsibility, efforts to sustain natural resources protection and
environmental quality cannot succeed. With them, the bountiful yet
fragile foundation of natural resources can be protected and replenished
to sustain the needs of today and tomorrow.
Stewardship will become more challenging, however, as the human
population grows and its needs and expectations put greater pressure on
the environment. As the population increases, so too will demands for
fertile soil, clean and abundant water, healthy air, diverse wildlife,
food, fuel, and fiber. And as the stresses on society intensify, so too
will the need felt by individuals and families to turn to the natural
landscape for beauty, solitude, and personal renewal. But
if present trends continue and stewardship is not widely embraced, more
people will face the results of having less available for them.
Recent years have presented Americans with examples of the apparent
conflicts between human needs and the ability of natural resources to
meet them. Some stem from use of or harm to resources once perceived as
inexhaustible. Other conflicts stem from development
decisions made when information was too sketchy to anticipate their
full consequences. The depletion of once-abundant ocean fish stocks, the
decline of Pacific salmon runs, the loss of old-growth forests, and
struggles over the uses of freshwater supplies are clear
reminders of the need today for greater stewardship of natural
resources for the future.
Renewable resources - together with such nonrenewable resources as oil
and gas, metals, industrial minerals, and building materials - contribute
to the foundation of the economic and social development of the country.
Conversion of these resources for human benefit
has sometimes resulted in costly and unforeseen environmental
consequences, many of which are only recently being fully recognized.
Public lands, including national forests and grasslands, national parks,
national wildlife refuges, and rangelands, comprise a significant portion
of the landscape. By statute, federal agencies are to administer these
lands for the benefit of all Americans, including
those who live near public lands or whose economic well-being depends
on the goods and services these lands produce. Public lands are managed
for multiple purposes; at times these purposes can conflict. Consider,
for example, the many uses of public land
resources. They offer extensive recreational opportunities, support
millions of acres of cattle and sheep grazing, produce billions of board
feet of timber, are the source of extensive energy and mineral
resources, supply water to many metropolitan areas, and
often represent the last remaining reserve for unique ecosystems and
biological resources. Studies by the U.S. Department of the Interior's
Bureau of Land Management have shown that the cumulative effects of past
activities on public lands have led to serious environmental problems,
including degraded aquatic and riparian systems; less
productive rangeland conditions; fragmented plant, animal, and fish
habitats; and decline in forest health.[1] Future
stewardship of these public lands is critical to the economic and
environmental well-being of many regions of the United States, and has
important implications for the country as a whole as well.
Nonfederal lands comprise 71 percent of the acreage in the United
States. Private landowners and state and local governments are
responsible for the natural resources on nearly 1.6 billion acres of
land. The majority of these nonfederal lands, almost 1.4 billion acres, are
privately owned.[2] Thus, the commitment Americans have to
conserving the natural heritage for future generations is best
demonstrated through the stewardship of their own lands. Many owners of
private lands have pursued ideals of stewardship,
enhancing the economic and aesthetic values of the land, and giving
both landowners and the community a sense of place. Private decisions on
managing these lands have long determined the quality, vitality, and fate
of natural resources and will continue to do so. Ecological integrity
of the nation's natural systems will continue to depend on private choices.
Privately owned lands, however, are most often delineated by boundaries
that differ from the geographic boundaries of the natural system of
which they are a part. In some cases, therefore, individual or private
decisions can have negative ramifications. For example,
private decisions are often driven by strong economic incentives that
result in severe ecological or aesthetic consequences to both the natural
system and to communities outside landowner boundaries. The Council has
recognized this barrier to achieving sustainable development. The key
to overcoming it is to strengthen stewardship commitments through public
policies and individual actions that reflect the principles of sustainable
development and support for collaborative processes to enable
landowners to enhance the value, productivity, and ecological integrity
of their lands.
Although much remains to be done, the United States has made major
strides in achieving a healthier environment and better protection of
its natural resources. For example, by 1994, 14 million acres across
the United States were protected through regional, state, and local land
trusts. These private and voluntary efforts have produced a 49-percent
increase in conservation acreage since 1990.[3] Citizens,
environmental organizations, and government at all levels are working
together to save precious natural resources while safeguarding jobs and
local traditions. Actions to protect the bayous of southern Louisiana,
Mono Lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and striped bass in the
Chesapeake Bay are but a few examples of collaborative approaches to
natural resources stewardship. Soil conservation is another case in
point. Faced with increasing soil losses due to erosion, Congress
enacted the Conservation Reserve Program in 1985, which authorizes
contracts with farmers to convert highly erodible cropland to less
intense forms of production such as trees and permanent grasses.[4] Since then, 36.4 million acres, or 9 percent of cropland
has been retired from crop production; on this land, soil erosion has
dropped by 93 percent.[5]
Stewardship of the ocean's resources is also critical to the nation's
public trust responsibility. Oceans provide jobs, recreation, and
transportation to coastal communities, where more than three-fourths of
the country's population are expected to reside by the year 2000.[6] The sustainable use of these marine ecosystems, as well
as the species that inhabit them, is crucial to the future of these
regions and the nation.
Ensuring that an environmental stewardship ethic is a guiding principle
of natural resources management requires a lifelong commitment from
individuals, communities, corporations, and the nation--today and for
generations to come. How can society best develop and maintain a
commitment to stewardship? The answer is multifaceted, but it
starts with understanding the dynamics at work in the environment and
the connection among environmental protection, economic prosperity, and
social equity and well-being. It depends on the processes by which
individuals, institutions, and government at all levels can work
together toward protecting and restoring the country's inherited natural
resource base. Education, information, and communication are all
important for developing a stewardship ethic. Also important is the
widespread understanding that people, bonded by a shared purpose, can
work together to make sustainable development a reality. The following
policy recommendations and actions offer ways in which stewardship can
help move the nation toward sustainable development.
Using Collaborative Approaches to
Manage Natural Resources
The collaborative decision-making processes described in chapter 4,
"Strengthening Communities," can be particularly useful in the
responsible stewardship of natural resources. Collaborative approaches
can apply both to public and private resources when the decisions made
on their use have broad implications for the whole community. What has
become clear is that the conflicts over natural resources increasingly
are exceeding the capacity of institutions, processes, and mechanisms to
resolve them. Adversarial administrative, legal, and political
processes are common venues for challenges to the many interests in
natural resources. These processes typically stress points of conflict,
dividing communities and neighbors. Litigation tends to be acrimonious
and costly, often resulting in solutions that do not adequately address
the interests of one or more key stakeholders. What is usually missing
from the process is a mechanism to enable the many stakeholders to work
together to identify common goals, values, and areas of interest through
vigorous and open public discussion within the constraints of antitrust
laws. The Council endorses the concept of collaborative approaches to
resolving conflicts.
In its meetings and task force groups, the Council found that
communities, citizens, and other stakeholders across the country are
inventing and using their own collaborative processes. For example,
stakeholders within the Feather River Watershed in northeastern
California, an area containing portions of three national
forests--Plumas, Lassen, and Tahoe--created a forum for people
living there to use "common sense to achieve obvious goals: healthy
forests and healthy small-town economies through time." Known as the
Quincy Library Group (named for the library in Quincy, California,
where it holds its meetings), the community-based group began by
developing a management plan for the 2.5 million acres of prime federal
timber land and is now working on steps to carry it out.
These types of groups are discovering and demonstrating
that collaborative approaches, based on a framework of natural systems or
defining land forms such as watersheds, offer useful tools for
identifying common visions and goals for advancing stewardship and
resolving conflicts. Experience is showing that they can serve as
reliable means for addressing different interests; putting near-term
problems in the context of long-term needs; integrating economic,
environmental, and social considerations; building from but moving beyond
the limits of narrow jurisdictions and authorities to adopt innovative
solutions; and reflecting community interests as well as the interests of
citizens elsewhere. Collaborative approaches envisioned here can
give impetus to stakeholders and communities to make use of best
available science in their decision-making processes, meet and exceed
legal requirements for protecting the environment, monitor natural
resources status and trends, and exercise collective responsibility for
practicing and passing on a stewardship ethic.
Basing collaborative approaches on natural systems encourages people to
identify with a particular place and take responsibility for it.
Frequently, people do not feel connected to a place or locale and so do
not feel responsible for taking care of it. Decisions typically get made
in fragmented ways, and the connection between individual lives and the
health of an ecosystem can seem remote. Yet human activities are very
much connected to the ecological integrity of a natural system, such as
a watershed, and considering their effects within a framework based on a
defining natural system can highlight cause-and-effect relationships;
identify long-term implications; and lead to solutions that integrate
economic, environmental, and equity goals. Construction practices that
keep harmful sediments from accumulating in rivers and lakes help
protect water quality for drinking and swimming, for example. Careful
planning of a community's development along a lake or river can enhance
property values, increase merchants' sales, add to people's appreciation
of the natural environment, and protect wildlife habitat. The
possibilities for recognizing and responding to these kinds of
interrelationships abound.
Government plays a critical role in conserving, protecting, and
restoring natural resources by setting and maintaining a foundation of
strong environmental laws and regulations. Enforcement is an important
component, particularly for pollution control. No single government
agency or collection of unconnected agencies is sufficient. No set of
statutes or regulations--however comprehensive and detailed--can take
the place of the commitment by individuals and communities to protect
natural resources and ecological integrity. Individuals, communities,
and institutions need to work individually and collaboratively to ensure
stewardship of natural systems.
Finding an acceptable integration of local, regional, and national
interests is not without difficulty. Issues involving public lands and
marine resources, for instance, require that a broad, national
perspective be maintained. However, local stakeholders for the various
interests involved in a particular natural resources issue may be able to
contribute to more informed and reasoned choices--collectively--for
resolving issues. At the same time, many people who live at a distance
from a particular natural resource system can have strong and legitimate
interests in the broad, national perspective be maintained. However,
local stakeholders for the various interests involved in a particular
natural resources issue may be able to contribute to more informed and
reasoned choices -- collectively -- for resolving issues. At the same
time, many people who live at a distance from a particular natural
resource system can have strong and legitimate interests in the outcome
of its multiple uses. To ensure that all interests are represented, all
stakeholders need to be involved in the decision process. Who are
stakeholders? The definition needs to be broad. Stakeholders include
those who live, work, recreate in, or are committed to the well-being of
the watershed or other defining land form and the natural resources
issues of concern. They include federal, state, and local governments;
community members and institutions; businesses; national and other
nongovernmental organizations; and private citizens.
Characteristics of successful collaborative approaches are emerging.
Among them are use of a framework based on a natural system such as a
watershed or bioregion, voluntary multistakeholder discussions, a
transparent process open to the public, incorporation of existing law,
and use of the best available science.
Government agencies at all levels have a pivotal role to play in
encouraging stakeholders to search for common goals, resolve conflicts,
apply the best available science, inventory and monitor natural resources
status and trends, and exercise collective responsibility for overall
natural resources conditions.
POLICY RECOMMENDATION 1 |
COLLABORATIVE APPROACHES
Use voluntary, multistakeholder,
collaborative approaches to protect,
restore, and monitor natural
resources and to resolve natural
resources conflicts. |
ACTION 1. The President should issue an
executive order
directing federal agencies under the Government Performance
and Results Act to promote voluntary, multistakeholder, collaborative
approaches toward managing and restoring natural resources.[7]
ACTION 2. Governors can issue similar directives to encourage
state agencies to participate in and promote voluntary,
multistakeholder, collaborative approaches.
ACTION 3. Public and private leaders (within the constraints
of antitrust concerns), community institutions, nongovernmental
organizations, and individual citizens can take collective
responsibility for practicing environmental stewardship
through voluntary, multistakeholder, collaborative approaches.
ACTION 4. The federal government should play a more active
role in building consensus on difficult issues and identifying
actions that would allow stakeholders to work together toward
common goals. Both Congress and the executive branch
should evaluate the extent to which the Federal Advisory
Committee Act poses a barrier to successful multistakeholder
processes, and they should amend regulations to help accomplish
this.[8] |
MONO LAKE AND "DROUGHT-PROOFING" LOS ANGELES |
In 1990, Mono Lake was on the verge of ecological collapse.
Located high in a remote part
of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, the lake's diverted
tributaries supplied Los Angeles with about 14 percent of its water.
After almost SO years of diversions, Mono Lake's shoreline had
dropped 42 feet, exposing it to a host of environmental risks. Toxic dust
storms arose from the recently exposed banks. The natural salinity of
the water doubled, dramatically reducing its productivity.
Of the I million ducks and geese that had once migrated to the lake, fewer
than I percent returned.
Meanwhile, southern California faced its seventh year of
below-normal rainfall -- a dire situation for this fast-growing,
high-population area. Imported water, diverted from Mono Lake and
other sources located throughout the Sierra and Rocky Mountains, is
lifeblood for the and metropolis of greater Los Angeles, home to more
than 14.S million people. As the prolonged drought continued, city
officials and area business leaders worried that the water
shortage would threaten the region's economic stability Local and
national environmentalists were equally worried that the
growing thirst of the growing city would destroy treasured wilderness areas
like Mono Lake.
The Mono Lake Committee, a citizens' group with more than 17,000
members, was organized to save Mono Lake. From the outset, the committee
recognized that this could only be done by reducing the diversion
pressures. "Yet it's not enough to find a Mono Lake-only protection
plan," says Martha Davis, executive director of the committee. "It was
also important to understand Los Angeles' needs and the needs of the
state. We refused to promote solutions that would transfer
environmental problems from Mono Lake to another ecosystem or watershed."
Working with Los Angeles, California, and area businesses, the Mono Lake
Committee set out to "drought-proof" Los Angeles.
Water conservation was the first priority. The city pledged to
reduce water use by 20 percent. Ultra low-flush toilets were installed in
most homes. Higher water prices discouraged unnecessary use. By 1994,
the city had exceeded its goal, and water use was identical to 1975
levels -- even with 800,000 more residents. But conservation was not
enough.
"We've reached a point in water management where if it's not water
reuse, it's water abuse," comments Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Don
Beard. Imported water is still needed for households, but recycled water
can be used for many industrial purposes. The collaboration of
government and private organizations developed a plan to reclaim and
conserve more than 13S, 000 acre-feet of
water annually -- twice the amount of water needed to protect Mono Lake.
State and federal agencies pledged $86 million to build two water
reclamation projects. Businesses liked the estimates showing that
reclaimed water was $347 per acre-foot, $64 less than imported water
The plan allowed the state to issue an order in September 1994
restricting water diversions from Mono Lake. With its rewatered
streams, Mono Lake will ultimately rise about 16 feet -- a level that
most ecologists believe will preserve the integrity of the lake and
its ecosystem. Waterfowl will return to its shores. Aquatic life will
be restored. "We are," explains Los Angeles City Council
member Ruth Golonter, "preserving one of America's most significant
ecological treasures."
|
Using Ecosystem Approaches to Natural Resources Management
America's history of natural resources management started just
before the turn of the last century. Since then, a complex array of
state and federal natural resources management laws and implementing
agencies has been created, each attempting to balance new tensions over
the use and conservation of a particular resource. Around
each resource - whether forests, water, fisheries, wildlife, or
recreation areas - distinct policies, institutions, constituents, and
professions have evolved. Because the health and productivity of these
resources and the communities that depend on them are often linked,
policies and practices in one resource area have frequently had
negative and unintended consequences for other resources. For
example, irrigation and flood control projects have sharply diminished
salmon populations in California and the Pacific Northwest, creating
divisive and protracted conflicts among resource users.[9]
In addition, science and experience have shown the variety of resources,
importance of ecological processes such as nutrient cycling, fire, and
hydrologic cycles - some of which operate over broad
geographic areas - in determining the condition of a natural resource in
a particular place. For example, forest management policies and
practices in the Rocky Mountain region were developed before the
importance of fire as a factor in forest health was recognized. Because
the role of ecosystem processes was not considered, today there are
difficult and costly management decisions to be made
to restore the vitality of the region's forest ecosystems and the local
economies that depend on them.
The shift from managing a single resource or a single species to
managing an ecosystem for a variety of resources, including the
maintenance of its biodiversity, makes sense. And
there are numerous advantages to using the best scientific, social, and
economic information and fostering collaboration among landowners and
other stakeholders -- actions that characterize this new generation of
natural resources management. Scientific information
is essential in identifying which ecosystem processes are vital to the
productivity of a wide array of natural resources, while social and
economic information can identify which
strategies will best meet public demands and landowner objectives.
Ecosystem management cooperative efforts can often be accomplished
through voluntary participation, carefully accounting for landowner
objectives. For example, properly planned forest
management activities, including various types of harvesting, can be
compatible with ecosystem processes and can be used effectively to
simulate natural events.
Concerned about the cumulative impact of numerous local management
actions, many scientists and resource managers now believe that
biodiversity, water quality, and other natural resources can only be
protected through cooperative efforts across large landscapes --
landscapes that often cross ownership boundaries. At the same time,
conflicting demands for all resources are forcing public agencies to
explore new planning and policy mechanisms that would involve broader
public participation to minimize conflicts. Since 1992, federal
agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S.
Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S.
National Park Service, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
have established ecosystem management policies to guide their decisions
for achieving various goals, including those set by law.
Independently, a number of efforts have been undertaken to combine the
use of ecosystem approaches with greater public participation. They
have used such mechanisms as
regional planning or advisory groups to integrate natural resources
management decisions. Conservation groups; local governments; private
landowners; and forest products, energy, and utility firms -- among
others -- are now involved in dozens of cooperative efforts to use
ecosystem approaches for natural resources management
around the country. More open communication and closer collaboration
can enable ecosystem approaches to anticipate potential problems and
conflicts, and identify potential solutions. Also, using adaptive
management techniques to monitor results and incorporate lessons learned
can ensure that shared goals are met and costly mistakes avoided.
Still, the effective and widespread application of collaborative
ecosystem approaches faces a number of challenges. First, the approaches
are new and experimental. Of the nearly 150 examples of ecosystem
approaches to natural resources management in the United States
identified by The Keystone Center's national policy dialogue on ecosystem
management, nearly all have been initiated since 1990. Because the
lessons of these early initiatives are just beginning to emerge, public
agencies, landowners, and various interest groups can learn from these
efforts. Second, ecosystem approaches offer the most promise for public
and private lands that are managed for multiple uses such as
forestry, fisheries, grazing, and recreation. It is in these areas that
cooperative efforts to maintain important ecosystem processes will offer
the greatest benefits for long-term resource productivity and
biodiversity conservation.
Ecosystem approaches have been recognized by stakeholders with differing
perspectives as a means to move forward in a new era in which scientific
information, stakeholder communication, and management cooperation will
be essential in making widely accepted decisions that perpetuate
America's natural resources. The following recommendations provide a
basis for making ecosystem approaches to natural resources management
more effective.
POLICY RECOMMENDATION 2 |
ECOSYSTEM INTEGRITY
Enhance, restore, and sustain the
health, productivity, and
biodiversity of terrestrial and
aquatic ecosystems through
cooperative efforts to use the best
ecological, social, and economic
information to manage natural
resources. |
ACTION 1. Federal and state agencies should identify and
address areas in which interagency cooperation is needed for
sustaining ecosystems, natural resources productivity, and
biodiversity; and they should allocate funds to ensure successful
cooperation. Since many agencies operate under laws
passed decades ago, they should help revise policy frameworks
to address the needs of maintaining ecosystem processes and
the resources that depend on them.
ACTION 2. Conservation groups, private landowners, and local
governments should identify actions and conditions that will
advance their objectives and so are most important for their
participation in ecosystem approaches to natural resources
management.
ACTION 3. Government agencies at all levels should help
cooperative local efforts use ecosystem approaches to natural
resources management by providing access to information,
technical assistance, and funding and by removing policy and
administrative obstacles to successful ecosystem approaches.
ACTION 4. Federal and state agencies, in collaboration with
localities, should develop indicators which can be used to
monitor the status of ecosystems and natural resources productivity.
They should encourage consensus goals and shared responsibilities for
restoring damaged ecosystems.
ACTION 5. Government agencies, conservation groups, and
the private sector should expand the use of ecosystem
approaches by using collaborative partnerships, developing
compatible information databases, and carrying out appropriate
incentives for responsible stewardship. |
PROTECTING LOUISIANA WETLANDS |
Each year, a total of about 35 square miles of coastal Louisiana
wetlands, or a football field worth of land every IS minutes, washes
into the sea. The rapid erosion is threatening natural
ecosystems and hundreds of communities that located on the delta where the
Mississippi River meets the Gulf of Mexico. But the outlook is changing
-- thanks in part to the Louisiana Coastal Wetlands
Interfaith Stewardship Plan, formed in 1986 to help congregations across
Louisiana understand the magnitude of the problem and look for possible
solutions. Since then, churches and synagogues
throughout coastal Louisiana have sponsored 20 forums attracting more
than 2,000 people interested in learning why and how to protect and
restore wetlands.
At first, the presence of churches and synagogues in a resource
conflict puzzled some. "Among my earliest experiences was a meeting at
the Department of Natural Resources in Baton Rouge,"
remembers Rob Gorman, a social worker for Catholic Social Services for
the region. "On one side of the room were executives from the Louisiana
Chemical Association, Mid-Continent Oil and Gas, and the Louisiana
Landowners Association, On the other side were activists from the
Environmental Defense Fund, Louisiana Wildlife Federation, and Sierra
Club. I was introduced as from Catholic Social Services and virtually
all heads turned and someone asked the question: "What is the church
doing here?"
"I explained that religious congregations had to be present
because of our understanding of stewardship and our social justice
commitment to preserving the jobs of family fishermen and all
others dependent upon the resources of the wetlands," Gorman
continues. "Let's call it a moral obligation. Environmental degradation
and poverty go hand in hand."
The presence of the religious community helped break open the
debate In ways that might otherwise not have been possible. People act
differently when they meet in a church instead of a corporate boardroom
or state hearing room," says Mark Davis, executive director of the Coalition
to Restore Coastal Louisiana. It also helped to build stronger grassroots
support for coastal protection, which spurred a series of important
measures. In 1989, the voters in the state approved by a
three-to-one margin the Louisiana Wetlands Conservation and Restoration
Trust Fund. The following year, Congress approved the Coastal Wetlands
Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act, which included
$ 1.5 billion in funds to help restore Louisiana's wetlands.
The President's Council on Sustainable Development heard from
religious leaders on April 26, 1995, during a roundtable held in
conjunction with a Council meeting in Son Francisco. "God
made the Earth, made it beautiful, and made us to cherish and protect it,"
observed Paul Gorman, executive director of the National Religious
Partnership for the Environment. "With its breadth of
outreach, moral witness, capacity to motivate, firm foundation in
mainstream values, and ability to bring diverse groups together, the
American religious community can make a profound contribution to
the search for sustainability."
|
Emphasizing Incentives and Eliminating Disincentives
for Natural Resources Stewardship
Another important step for encouraging natural resources
stewardship of public and private lands and waters is to review and,
where necessary, overhaul the wide range of incentives and disincentives
affecting such stewardship. The need for review is particularly
important in light of funding cuts in government natural
resources programs. The challenge is to identify new, market-based
approaches to promoting stewardship and participatory planning and to
eliminate subsidized programs that promote or encourage unsustainable
activities, rather than only reacting to problems
after they have become intractable. Examples of the latter include
controversies associated with federally owned resources such as
minerals, forage, and timber.
While public lands play an important role in achieving a national goal
of sustainability, private lands are also critical to achieving
sustainability and natural resources conservation because 64 percent of
the lands in the continental United States are privately owned.[10]
Moreover, of the 728 species listed as endangered or threatened under the
Endangered Species Act, 50 percent are found on federal lands at least
once, while the other 50 percent are found on a combination of
nonfederal lands, including state and
locally owned lands and private lands." To date, existing laws and
regulations by themselves have not been entirely satisfactory in
achieving positive results.
In the case of timber lands, encouraging improved stewardship of private
industrial and nonindustrial forest lands offers an opportunity to enhance
profitability and accrue long-term ecological benefits. Encouragement
could come in the form of increased technical
or financial assistance, or both. Nonindustrial private forest
landowners own 287.6 million acres or 59 percent of the nation's 490
million acres. The forest industry owns
another 70 million acres or 14 percent. 12 Although most forest lands
are managed for multiple use, private forest lands are often managed
with a stronger emphasis on fiber production than are public forest
lands. Private lands are also capable of producing more
wood at a lower cost per unit than public timber lands. Because of
these factors, private forest land figures significantly in market-based
approaches to promoting natural
resources stewardship. A review of potential incentives for timber
production on private forest lands might lead to opportunities to meet
society's demand for forest products and provide jobs, a sound tax base,
and high environmental quality in a more economically efficient way.
As discussed in chapter 2, "Building a New Framework for a New Century,"
correctly designed market incentives used within an appropriate regulatory
framework can provide the most efficient set of tools to relieve and
redirect pressures that are leading to degradation or depletion of the
natural resource base on which the country's social, economic,
and environmental vitality depends.
Public policies that undermine stewardship and encourage excessive
exploitation of resources include public expenditures that lead to
ecologically or economically harmful projects and tax policies that
promote resource degradation. Public policies and private
activities aimed at conservation can create a combination of economic
self-interest, voluntary action, and, when necessary, regulatory
controls to promote sustainability. By integrating public policy with
market-driven economic incentives, including least-cost
methods, appropriate regulations can encourage private property
interests and users of public lands to make socially desirable and
beneficial decisions that promote resource conservation. The challenge
is to remove disincentives and establish incentives in three
distinct areas.
- Subsidies. Many subsidies encourage consumption-based
rather than conservation-based behavior by obscuring the true costs of
decisions. Examples of
subsidies in direct conflict with other laws and policies include
subsidized
overgrazing of public lands, leading to the destruction of habitat
and reduced
productivity. Similarly, cheap hydropower and subsidized diversion
of water for
irrigation jeopardize the continued existence of Columbia River
salmon and
other endangered species, and price supports for sugar production
lead to
habitat loss and increasing pollution of Florida waterways.
- Expenditures. Public expenditures on economic infrastructures
such as roads,
dams, schools, and industrial parks can "encourage investment and
induce development in areas that might not otherwise be attractive to
development; such developments are often environmentally dubious, too.
This would be the case, for instance, when they encourage sprawl that
requires new costly infrastructure or agriculture that requires costly
subsidized electricity.
- Taxation. Tax codes and policies, if properly designed, can
promote sustainability and resource conservation by creating incentives and
disincentives to
promote sustainability and can transfer value among various segments
of society. These tools do not eliminate costs of sustainability and
conservation, but
rather transfer costs from the private to the public sector. Tax
incentives include
property tax reductions for those who commit to managing property
for species
of concern, tax credits for expenses incurred in improving degraded
habitat or
creating new habitat for target species, transferrable development
rights and
land swaps, or capital gains treatment of returns from sustainable
managed timber operations to encourage this continued land use. Other
incentives are tax
deductions for income derived from economic activity on lands
managed fully
and perpetually for species of concern; inheritance tax reform to
promote conservation by ensuring that large tracts of habitat do not
have to be liquidated,
broken apart, or devoted to more economically intensive use as a
consequence
of inheritance taxes (or their avoidance); capital gains tax
deferral on land transfers that facilitate or continue to provide for
conservation; and exploration of
the use of conservation credits as a mechanism to create a market
for environmentally protective actions.
In sum, executive and legislative bodies at the federal, state, local,
and tribal levels responsible for tax, economic, and other policies that
influence natural resources should
remove disincentives that undermine stewardship and establish incentives
for sustainable resources management and protection.
POLICY RECOMMENDATION 3 |
INCENTIVES FOR
STEWARDSHIP
Create and promote incentives to stimulate and
support the appropriate involvement of
corporations, property owners, resource users, and
government at all levels in the individual and
collective pursuit of stewardship of natural
resources |
ACTION 1. Commercial users of public resources should pa
the full cost associated with the depletion or use of those resources -
reflecting both market and nonmarket values. For example, decisions on
providing access for timber and
grazing uses should take into account
not only financial costs but net impacts on ecological systems
(positive as well as negative), including effects on water
quality and biological diversity.
ACTION 2. Federal, state, local, and tribal officials, in
making decisions on public infrastructure projects, should weigh
the economic benefits of the project
against the full costs - incorporating both market and
nonmarket costs, such as the net impacts on the ecological
system. Existing projects should be reengineered to the extent
possible to restore ecological functions and habitat using
cost-benefit analyses, including both market and nonmarket values.
ACTION 3. Legislative bodies at the federal, state, local, and
tribal levels should extend tax credits and deductions to
promote actions taken by property owners to enhance the long-term
conservation value of their property beyond compliance with existing
regulations.
ACTION 4. Landowners who take conservation action beyond
compliance with regulations, such as establishing habitat for
endangered species, should not face penalties for returning to
the regulated standard.
ACTION 5. State, local, and tribal governments should identify
habitats of particular ecological concern and establish impact
fees or mitigation requirements to shift effects to regions of
lower concern.
ACTION 6. State and federal governments should establish,
through general taxes or user fees on public resources, a trust
fund to be used in purchasing particularly ecologically sensitive or
valuable habitats.
ACTION 7. The federal government should develop a matching
fund program to encourage federal, state, local, and tribal
investment in sustainable programs and projects.
ACTION 8. The federal government should establish a revolving
fund to enable local communities to undertake the planning required to
develop incentive-based resource conservation programs. |
Securing Sustainable Agriculture
Fundamental to the conservation and stewardship of natural
resources is the role of sustainable agriculture. There are at least
four levels at which agricultural sustainability is important to
sustainable development in the United States. These are the
field, the farm, the ecosystem, and the nation.
At the field level, sustainable use of technology and natural resources
is essential to the maintenance of agricultural productivity.
Appropriate use of soil and water helps to
conserve these vital resources for future generations and promotes
economic efficiency.
At the farm level, financial viability is important for the economic
health of the agricultural sector and the development and quality of
life of rural communities.
At the ecosystem level, health and sustainability depend heavily on
agricultural activities. Because agriculture uses such a large amount
of the land base and water supply, it
inevitably has significant effects on wildlife habitat, recreation,
marine and freshwater fisheries, municipal and industrial water
treatment, shipping, and water storage.
At the national level, agricultural sustainability has many facets.
Agricultural productivity determines food prices in the domestic market
and influences the nation's ability to
compete in export markets. The direction of agricultural research and
development, coupled with economic incentives, plays a large role in
farmers' production practices and
therefore affects food costs and quality as well as the environment.
Finally, agricultural
markets and products account for 16 percent of U.S. employment.[13]
Consideration of sustainability at these various levels is woven
throughout the following discussion and recommendations on sustainable
agriculture.
Stewardship of prime farmlands is a fundamental component of sustainable
agriculture.
Prime farmlands are highly productive, versatile, or otherwise unique
and are of strategic importance to the nation as a whole as well as to
individual regions. A number of pressures, both internal to agriculture
and external to it, threaten the quality of the
natural resources base upon which domestic production of food, feed,
fuel, and fiber depend. Although total cropland in the United States
has stayed nearly constant since 1945 at 460 million acres, the loss of
farmland to urban and other nonfarm uses can be a major local or state
issue. Much of the best farmland is adjacent to major metropolitan
areas and is being converted to nonagricultural uses.[14]
Management of farms and rangeland is a key part of sustainable
agriculture. Mismanagement can result in negative environmental
consequences and create a loss of productivity through such processes as
erosion, salinization, overfertilization, and misuse or accidental
releases of pesticides and fertilizers. Agricultural land use is a
significant contributor to impaired water quality of rivers, lakes, and
estuaries. Other consequences of agricultural
land use include risks to human health, loss of wildlife habitat, and
declining biodiversity.[15] Because of these factors,
stewardship of productive cropland and grazing land as a
natural resources base is critical to the nation's future.
Farmers and ranchers control a significant portion of the land area of
the United States. Of the 1.9 billion acres of land in the United
States (excluding Alaska), approximately 907
million are dedicated to agriculturally related purposes, including
cropland, pasture, and rangeland.[16] Agricultural
activities are central to both the national economy and rural
economies and have significant effects on conservation of natural
resources, governmental budgets, and international trade.
American agriculture is in transition. The number of farms declined by
almost 31 percent,from 2.9 million in 1970 to 2 million in 1994, as the
average size of farms increased about
28 percent in the same period. During the 1978-92 period, the number of
families in farming decreased about 15 percent, and total farm
employment dropped 19 percent.[17]
New strategies are needed to address the changing situation. In the
past, federal and state governments have designed many resource
conservation programs from the top down,
with inadequate local involvement. Community priorities are often not
heard or understood. To continue moving toward sustainable agriculture,
local communities need to be empowered to participate.
Agricultural sustainability can be enhanced by the application of an
integrated whole-farm/whole-ranch systems approach which addresses the
social, economic, and environmental effects of agriculture and
recognizes the interrelationships among
management practices. The systems approach includes management of
various factors, such as nutrients, pests, irrigation, and soil, on a
site-specific basis. This approach involves steps to develop,
demonstrate, and evaluate whole-farm and whole-ranch
systems on a wider scale. The public and private sectors should
encourage farmers to adopt this approach on a voluntary basis.
WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE? |
Sustainable agriculture is an integrated system of plant and animal
production practices having a site-specific application that will, over
the long term, satisfy human
food and fiber needs; enhance environmental quality and the natural
resources base upon which the agricultural economy depends; make the
most efficient use of both
nonrenewable resources and on-farm/ranch resources and integrate, where
appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls; sustain the economic
viability of farm/ranch operations; and enhance the quality of life for
farmers/ranchers and society as a
whole.
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CONSERVING THE SOIL |
Controlling erosion not only sustains long-term productivity of the
land, but also reduces the amount of soil, pesticides, fertilizers, and
other substances that can move
into the nation's waters. By 1992, American farmers had reduced soil
erosion on cropland by almost 1 billion tons per year from 1982 levels,
according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's 1992 National Resources Inventory. This is
enough topsoil saved in one year to fill a convoy of dump trucks 95
abreast stretching from Los Angeles to New York. Soil erosion savings
have come about through the Conservation
Reserve Program (700 million tons), conservation technical assistance
(300 million tons), and conservation compliance (1 00 million
tons).[18]
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Federal and state actions related to integrated farming systems should be
consistent, with a view toward:
Successful promotion and adoption of sustainable agriculture practices
depend on technological innovation and dissemination. Agricultural
research should be refocused
toward integrated farming systems that jointly address productivity,
profitability, improved efficiency, and environmental protection. This
will require more interdisciplinary research. Educational programs to
transfer knowledge of existing and developing
technologies can be improved. Effective transfer systems include
mechanisms to teach and demonstrate these technologies at the local
level. Institutions can provide incentives
to reward those who develop such research and educational programs. In
addition, it is important to recognize the efforts of U.S. agencies and
international institutions that are
promoting sustainable agriculture in developing countries.
Federal agricultural commodity programs should be made more flexible to
encourage farmers to respond to market signals, improve crop rotations, and
diversify the mix of agricultural goods produced, all to enhance
profitability and environmental quality.
Granting greater flexibility to farmers can result in environmental
improvements when farmers adopt resource-conserving practices; this can
also lead to gains in profitability as
farmers become better equipped to manage in ways that reduce the amount
of resources used. The historic lack of flexibility in base-acreage
requirements, for example, has created barriers to diversification of
operations, good stewardship practices and systems,
and improved efficiency and profitability.
In practice, sustainable agriculture can:
- Ensure a readily available, affordable, and continuing
supply of high-quality food and fiber to all sectors of American society;
- Provide commodities to fulfill a range of national objectives,
including international trade and commitments for humanitarian food aid;
- Contribute to increasing efficiency and profitability on farms and
to making rural communities vital and economically prosperous;
- Protect human health and the environment, with an increasing
emphasis on pollution prevention; and
- Promote conservation of biodiversity through integrated farming
systems.
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