And the hunters who organized the restoration effort are now able to harvest five hundred thousand birds annually. Consider the difference between incentives and regulation. We have created a law which pits rare plants and animals against property owners. As a result, they both lose. Of particular interest to the Grassroots ESA Coalition and NWI is the relationship between private ownership of land and conservation.
Private land is actually more important to the conservation of rare wildlife than government land.
Although the federal government owns vast amounts of land, private land is often richer in wildlife, plants and water. Much of this land is still owned by the many descendants of the original landowners who got the land when Maine became a state in 1820. In some cases, conservation is directly related to a business enterprise. Sea Lion Caves, a for-profit organization, protects the only mainland rookery of the Steller sea lion. It is a major tourist attraction on the Oregon coast and receives over 200,000 visitors annually.