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Billion-Dollar Backlog
There’s a $30 billion backlog in the maintenance of federal lands, according to Lesli Allison at the Western Landowners Alliance (WLA). Private landowners are investing in wildlife habitat improvements, donating enormous value through permanent conservation easements, restoring streams and watersheds, and more. That’s in addition to the property taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs that come with keeping land and habitat open and healthy. “Private landowners are carrying that kind of cost on the private side of the fence, and that needs to be recognized,” Allison says.
If you own land in one of the eleven Western states, I encourage you to participate in the WLA survey of private landowners’ investment in conservation. Southwick Associates will aggregate the data to provide results at the state and regional levels; individual landowner data will be kept entirely confidential.
John Malone’s Greenland Ranch (right) is an extraordinary example of one such investment. Learn more about the invasive species threatening the oldest operating cattle ranch along the Front Range in Emily Payne’s in-depth report.
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