Public Versus Private Land Ownership to Preserve Wildlife Habitat

Abstract

Conversion and fragmentation of native habitats are considered the primary threats to endangered wildlife. While a purely market-based economy does not compensate private landowners for the public environmental services that their property provides the general public has expressed a willingness to pay for environmental services. This willingness to pay has been expressed through federal and state government agencies that buy and manage environmentally sensitive lands. Public ownership insures the provision of environmental services from a particular property. At the same time it provides the landowner with a measure of compensation for relinquishing his or her property rights. Annualized costs for acquisition and maintenance in southwest Florida were estimated to be $30 per acre. Limited public monies and a desire to improve flexibility of conservation programs have led to discussions of creating conservation leases for private landowners. Involving private landowners in a habitat conservation program has the opportunity to enhance the overall flexibility of achieving environmental goals. True flexibility of incentive payments to private landowners will depend upon the linkage of payments to habitat quality and the measurement of the level of environmental services provided by individual landowners.