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- Info
Building partnerships for ecosystem management on mixed ownership landscapes: Regional perspectives
| Author: |
Sample, Alaric V.; Cheng, Antony S.; Enzer, Maia J.; Moote, Margaret A. |
| Date: |
1995 |
| Periodical: |
Washington, DC: The Forest Policy Center |
| Abstract: |
This report is based upon a series of national and regional workshops held to explore and evaluate voluntary, non-regulatory mechanisms for facilitating closer cross-boundary cooperation for ecosystem management. Participants at the national workshop proposed an array of incentive-based and information-based mechanisms to facilitate voluntary partnerships among adjacent landowners in mixed ownership landscapes. Regional workshops were held to evaluate the usefulness of these mechanisms in the context of current land ownership patterns-but also social, economic, and cultural characteristics--that vary from one major region of the United States to another. The objective of the regional workshops was to ensure that any national-level policy recommendations would be flexible enough to accomodate these regional differences. The major conclusions of this study are as follows. There is relatively little interest in new financial incentive or federal cost-share programs, for two reasons: (1) a lack of commitment to funding existing programs, such as the Stewardship Incentive Program, that are already well designed for facilitating the protection of ecological values on private lands and (2) landowner concem that accepting federal funds will increase the risk of future regulation, especially under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The greatest single opportunity for improving stewardship and cross-boundary coordination on private lands may be through technical assistance. Most landowners regard themselves as good land stewards but need assistance in identifying key ecological values on their lands and developing management plans that better protect those values, consistent with prior existing ownership objectives. Peer-to-peer networking is a particularly effective and cost-efficient means of providing technical assistance to a large number of non-industrial private landowners, especially for landowners wary of seeking assistance directly from federal or state government sources. Workshop participants identified a number of important policy barriers to cross-boundary cooperation. Federal and state inheritance- taxes make it difficult to avoid subdivision or extensive unplanned timber harvests on non- industrial private forest lands. This impacts not only individually owned tracts/parcels, but adjacent lands being managed in coordination with one another. Federal anti-trust laws strongly discourage cooperation by corporate landowners who may face prosecution even when their actions were clearly aimed at protecting public natural resource values. Uncertainty over private landowner responsibilities under the ESA is currently resulting in as much habitat destruction as protection. Administrative policies implementing the ESA should make full use of the discretion provided in- the law for flexible, creative approaches that protect critical habitat while allowing landowners to largely continue managing for existing ownership objectives. A wide array of successful partnership efforts around the country suggest a few basic tools for facilitating cooperation among adjacent federal and state agencies, corporations, and non-industrial private landowners to promote ecosystem-based approaches to resource management. The case studies show that people come together because of need, not because they have an inherent desire to work together. A catalyst organization or individual that can inspire others is therefore a critical element of successful partnerships. Perhaps even more important are communication and trust building within the partnership. Peer-to-peer networking is a particularly useful communication and educational tool.
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