Conservationists team up with ranchers, loggers

Kansas City Star: Conservationists team up with ranchers, loggers

… Across the nation, conservation groups in partnership with ranchers
are using cattle to restore native plant species by grazing invasive
grasses. Other groups are working with fishermen to fish sustainably,
and using logging and mining profits to pave way for forest and salmon
restoration.

"There's been a shift to working more with
industries," said Lynn Huntsinger, professor of rangeland ecology at the
University of California, Berkeley. "This is a human landscape. We need
food, we need wood, people are crazy about eating salmon. Working
closely with those who produce on the land offers opportunities for …
teaching them about conservation."

In the past, conservationists
relied on purchasing land and setting it aside, away from human
activity. Logging, ranching or mining were seen as harmful and
incompatible with preservation.

But in recent years, the use of
conservation easements to retire development rights on private land has
exploded. The easements, which cost a fraction of what it would cost to
buy the property, allow landowners to continue working the land. …