Your recent article, “Who Will Take Over The Ranch,”
turned out to be a big disappointment (HCN, 3/29/04: Who will take
over the ranch?). The term “conservation easement” borders on being
an oxymoron. In the entire article I failed to find anything that
actually indicated such an easement had anything to do with
conservation.
Livestock grazing apparently will continue
into eternity, even if the ranch involved has been horribly abused
by overgrazing for the past 100 years. No consideration is even
given to the plight of an endangered species, such as the Gunnison
sage grouse.
In the sidebar the writer says, “there are
good reasons to believe that ranch lands provide benefits to the
surrounding ecosystems.” He provides no data, however, to back up
his optimism. Instead he says “It’s a matter of faith and
common sense.” Now there’s a sterling substitute for cold
hard facts!
The “conservation easement” movement is going
to have to do more about conservation than stick the term in its
name if it really wants to convert the skeptics. It seems to be
little more than a gimmick for the rancher to make a good chunk of
money out of the program while continuing to graze or (overgraze)
indefinitely.
Steve
Gallizioli
Fountain Hills,
Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Conservation easements don’t make the grade.
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