At NWI we believe protecting property rights is the single most important step we could now take to improve our nation's conservation efforts. Current programs create perverse disincentives that devalue land if it contains rare wildlife or habitat the last thing you should do to make some more plentiful. Government environmental regulations which take private property hurt conservation. If private property were better protected, each resource manager would be encouraged by enlightened self interest to ensure that his resource is not only valuable today but in the future as well. As a result, the individual closest to the resource would have an incentive to actively engage in determining what are the best practices for his particular site and situation as no government regulator will ever be able to do.
Successful conservation is dependent upon protected private property.
The Grassroots ESA Coalition supports the passage of H.R. 1142. It would correct one of the fundamental flaws in the current law that prevents us from having a successful endangered species conservation effort. In fact, the Grassroots ESA Coalition favors a complete rewrite of the endangered species act and anticipates the introduction of an incentive based conservation bill for endangered species that benefits wildlife and people later this year.