A bimonthly public policy magazine. Private trusts preserve land and liberty by Dave Gorak Free from government mandates and cumbersome regulations, land conservation is best left to the private sector, where environmental concerns and individual liberty are able to thrive in harmony. So argues Robert Franciosi PhD, a research fellow at the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. Land trusts are nonprofit, voluntary organizations that work with landowners to protect America's land heritage. Land trusts operate in every state as well as in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Land trusts offer a valuable mechanism through which private interests can conserve open space.
Landowners are compensated for their land, instead of having its value taken from under them. Among the advantages of private land conservation, according to Franciosi, is that private groups better protect sensitive areas. Public land is used for a wide range of recreational activities, and it is politically difficult for the government to restrict those activities. Although some members of the public may be happy simply contemplating the preservation of public land, others will want to walk or ride horses, bikes, and motorcycles across it. They may want to camp, hunt, and fish on it.