Developing America's Natural Areas Market

Discussions concerning the conservation of natural areas often emphasize retention and management of areas of public land. This paper examines the ways in which private individuals and organizations are successfully protecting natural areas in the United States. Limited resources for conserving natural areas make efficient conservation (in terms of quality and quantity) of natural areas per unit cost a necessary condition of any protection policy. Three specific means that have been used to improve efficiency in private land conservation are identified. This paper suggests that the government can assist in these efforts by removing existing disincentives to private protection of land. The paper concludes that, wherever possible, the government should assist in developing a natural areas market rather than rely on public conservation programs alone. In this way, more efficient use might be made of limited conservation dollars by combining them with potentially available private funds.