Owley & Phelps: Federal Land Conservation in Rural Areas
In Federal Land Conservation in Rural Areas, authors Jessica Owley (Miami Law) and Jess Phelps (Associate General Counsel, The Lyme Timber Company) evaluate various federal strategies to further rural land conservation in light of the overall importance of such efforts to protect ecosystems, mitigate damage from climate change, and preserve open and reservational spaces.
The authors begin by defining "land conservation" as not only preserving existing land systems but also encouraging more sustainable resource uses. The authors then identify and evaulate four categories of federal approaches to rural land conservation: (1) outright federal ownership of the land; (2) mandating conservation through law; (3) incentivizing conservation through programs and tax incentives; and (4) facilitating conservation through non-coercive funding, review, and technical assistance programs.
The first method of land conservation in rural areas is ownership of land through agencies such as the National Park Service, Bureau of Lang Management, or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The federal government owns approximately one-third of the nation's land and holds subsurface rights over thousands of additional acres. The authors note that these agencies acting as owners can create conflict with rural residents, especially when federal land management decisions are made without sufficient local involvement or consultation.
The second approach evaulated is mandating land conservation through legal duties. This is done through regimes such as the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act, for example, provides for some wetland protection and seeks to maintain the integrity of the nation's waters. The impact on rural communities manifests in mechanisms such as "compensatory mitigation," which requires—as a condition of some wetlands developments—that landowners replace lost wetland functions in other areas.
The third and fourth methods of encouraging conservation—through direct incentives or more indirect facilitation—are similar and include policies like tax incentives for conservation easements and other farm bill programs. The authors see many of these incentives as effiective levers that actually motivate landowners to protect working lands, including forests and farmland. According to the authors, financial incentives may be particularly useful in rural areas where people may be more likely to be "land rich and cash poor." These incentives can be designed, for example, to allow farmers to still receive the benefits of land ownership (and value) while still meeting conservation goals.
Ultimately, the authors see these kinds of federal incentives and facilitation efforts as often the most beneficial federal strategy for land conservation. When the federal government gives money and support directly to local rural communities, land management decisions are made by those local communities, and the authors assert that land conservation goals are most effecitvely achieved with input from local residents.
