Good public policy fosters voluntary land conservation. Public incentives for conservation of private lands are essential. The vast majority of the nation's open land is in private ownership. While many owners of conservation land would like to keep their land in open space, few can afford to do so by philanthropy alone. Incentives such as income and estate tax benefits, technical assistance grants, matching grants, and programs to purchase partial land interests can encourage private land protection without public ownership or management, reducing cost to the public treasury of ensuring that valuable open space resources are protected.
Permanent conservation is the best public investment.
Public investment in perpetual conservation measures are the best for the land, the landowner, and the taxpayer. But investment in enduring conservation means that tomorrow's tax dollars can be used for other public purposes, rather than to solve today's problems all over again at likely higher cost. Public land ownership and management must complement private conservation. While land trusts focus primarily on privately-owned open space, some lands clearly need to be in public ownership in order for the public and the nation to fully benefit from their natural and recreational resources. Public and private interests in land can and should be balanced.