Chapter 5

AMERICA IS BLESSED with an abundance of natural resources which provide both the foundation for its powerful and vibrant economy and serve as the source of aesthetic inspiration and spiritual sustenance for many. Continued prosperity depends on the country's ability to protect this natural heritage and learn to use it in ways that do not diminish it.

Stewardship is at the core of this obligation. It calls upon everyone in society to assume responsibility for protecting the integrity of natural resources and their underlying ecosystems and, in so doing, safeguarding the interests of future generations. Without personal and collective commitment, without an ethic based on the acceptance of responsibility, efforts to sustain natural resources protection and environmental quality cannot succeed. With them, the bountiful yet fragile foundation of natural resources can be protected and replenished to sustain the needs of today and tomorrow.

Stewardship will become more challenging, however, as the human population grows and its needs and expectations put greater pressure on the environment. As the population increases, so too will demands for fertile soil, clean and abundant water, healthy air, diverse wildlife, food, fuel, and fiber. And as the stresses on society intensify, so too will the need felt by individuals and families to turn to the natural landscape for beauty, solitude, and personal renewal. But if present trends continue and stewardship is not widely embraced, more people will face the results of having less available for them.

Recent years have presented Americans with examples of the apparent conflicts between human needs and the ability of natural resources to meet them. Some stem from use of or harm to resources once perceived as inexhaustible. Other conflicts stem from development decisions made when information was too sketchy to anticipate their full consequences. The depletion of once-abundant ocean fish stocks, the decline of Pacific salmon runs, the loss of old-growth forests, and struggles over the uses of freshwater supplies are clear reminders of the need today for greater stewardship of natural resources for the future.

Renewable resources - together with such nonrenewable resources as oil and gas, metals, industrial minerals, and building materials - contribute to the foundation of the economic and social development of the country. Conversion of these resources for human benefit has sometimes resulted in costly and unforeseen environmental consequences, many of which are only recently being fully recognized.

Public lands, including national forests and grasslands, national parks, national wildlife refuges, and rangelands, comprise a significant portion of the landscape. By statute, federal agencies are to administer these lands for the benefit of all Americans, including those who live near public lands or whose economic well-being depends on the goods and services these lands produce. Public lands are managed for multiple purposes; at times these purposes can conflict. Consider, for example, the many uses of public land resources. They offer extensive recreational opportunities, support millions of acres of cattle and sheep grazing, produce billions of board feet of timber, are the source of extensive energy and mineral resources, supply water to many metropolitan areas, and often represent the last remaining reserve for unique ecosystems and biological resources. Studies by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management have shown that the cumulative effects of past activities on public lands have led to serious environmental problems, including degraded aquatic and riparian systems; less productive rangeland conditions; fragmented plant, animal, and fish habitats; and decline in forest health.[1] Future stewardship of these public lands is critical to the economic and environmental well-being of many regions of the United States, and has important implications for the country as a whole as well.

Nonfederal lands comprise 71 percent of the acreage in the United States. Private landowners and state and local governments are responsible for the natural resources on nearly 1.6 billion acres of land. The majority of these nonfederal lands, almost 1.4 billion acres, are privately owned.[2] Thus, the commitment Americans have to conserving the natural heritage for future generations is best demonstrated through the stewardship of their own lands. Many owners of private lands have pursued ideals of stewardship, enhancing the economic and aesthetic values of the land, and giving both landowners and the community a sense of place. Private decisions on managing these lands have long determined the quality, vitality, and fate of natural resources and will continue to do so. Ecological integrity of the nation's natural systems will continue to depend on private choices.

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Privately owned lands, however, are most often delineated by boundaries that differ from the geographic boundaries of the natural system of which they are a part. In some cases, therefore, individual or private decisions can have negative ramifications. For example, private decisions are often driven by strong economic incentives that result in severe ecological or aesthetic consequences to both the natural system and to communities outside landowner boundaries. The Council has recognized this barrier to achieving sustainable development. The key to overcoming it is to strengthen stewardship commitments through public policies and individual actions that reflect the principles of sustainable development and support for collaborative processes to enable landowners to enhance the value, productivity, and ecological integrity of their lands.

Although much remains to be done, the United States has made major strides in achieving a healthier environment and better protection of its natural resources. For example, by 1994, 14 million acres across the United States were protected through regional, state, and local land trusts. These private and voluntary efforts have produced a 49-percent increase in conservation acreage since 1990.[3] Citizens, environmental organizations, and government at all levels are working together to save precious natural resources while safeguarding jobs and local traditions. Actions to protect the bayous of southern Louisiana, Mono Lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay are but a few examples of collaborative approaches to natural resources stewardship. Soil conservation is another case in point. Faced with increasing soil losses due to erosion, Congress enacted the Conservation Reserve Program in 1985, which authorizes contracts with farmers to convert highly erodible cropland to less intense forms of production such as trees and permanent grasses.[4] Since then, 36.4 million acres, or 9 percent of cropland has been retired from crop production; on this land, soil erosion has dropped by 93 percent.[5]

Stewardship of the ocean's resources is also critical to the nation's public trust responsibility. Oceans provide jobs, recreation, and transportation to coastal communities, where more than three-fourths of the country's population are expected to reside by the year 2000.[6] The sustainable use of these marine ecosystems, as well as the species that inhabit them, is crucial to the future of these regions and the nation.

Ensuring that an environmental stewardship ethic is a guiding principle of natural resources management requires a lifelong commitment from individuals, communities, corporations, and the nation--today and for generations to come. How can society best develop and maintain a commitment to stewardship? The answer is multifaceted, but it starts with understanding the dynamics at work in the environment and the connection among environmental protection, economic prosperity, and social equity and well-being. It depends on the processes by which individuals, institutions, and government at all levels can work together toward protecting and restoring the country's inherited natural resource base. Education, information, and communication are all important for developing a stewardship ethic. Also important is the widespread understanding that people, bonded by a shared purpose, can work together to make sustainable development a reality. The following policy recommendations and actions offer ways in which stewardship can help move the nation toward sustainable development.

Using Collaborative Approaches to
Manage Natural Resources

In its meetings and task force groups, the Council found that communities, citizens, and other stakeholders across the country are inventing and using their own collaborative processes. For example, stakeholders within the Feather River Watershed in northeastern California, an area containing portions of three national forests--Plumas, Lassen, and Tahoe--created a forum for people living there to use "common sense to achieve obvious goals: healthy forests and healthy small-town economies through time." Known as the Quincy Library Group (named for the library in Quincy, California, where it holds its meetings), the community-based group began by developing a management plan for the 2.5 million acres of prime federal timber land and is now working on steps to carry it out.

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These types of groups are discovering and demonstrating that collaborative approaches, based on a framework of natural systems or defining land forms such as watersheds, offer useful tools for identifying common visions and goals for advancing stewardship and resolving conflicts. Experience is showing that they can serve as reliable means for addressing different interests; putting near-term problems in the context of long-term needs; integrating economic, environmental, and social considerations; building from but moving beyond the limits of narrow jurisdictions and authorities to adopt innovative solutions; and reflecting community interests as well as the interests of citizens elsewhere. Collaborative approaches envisioned here can give impetus to stakeholders and communities to make use of best available science in their decision-making processes, meet and exceed legal requirements for protecting the environment, monitor natural resources status and trends, and exercise collective responsibility for practicing and passing on a stewardship ethic.

Basing collaborative approaches on natural systems encourages people to identify with a particular place and take responsibility for it. Frequently, people do not feel connected to a place or locale and so do not feel responsible for taking care of it. Decisions typically get made in fragmented ways, and the connection between individual lives and the health of an ecosystem can seem remote. Yet human activities are very much connected to the ecological integrity of a natural system, such as a watershed, and considering their effects within a framework based on a defining natural system can highlight cause-and-effect relationships; identify long-term implications; and lead to solutions that integrate economic, environmental, and equity goals. Construction practices that keep harmful sediments from accumulating in rivers and lakes help protect water quality for drinking and swimming, for example. Careful planning of a community's development along a lake or river can enhance property values, increase merchants' sales, add to people's appreciation of the natural environment, and protect wildlife habitat. The possibilities for recognizing and responding to these kinds of interrelationships abound.

Government plays a critical role in conserving, protecting, and restoring natural resources by setting and maintaining a foundation of strong environmental laws and regulations. Enforcement is an important component, particularly for pollution control. No single government agency or collection of unconnected agencies is sufficient. No set of statutes or regulations--however comprehensive and detailed--can take the place of the commitment by individuals and communities to protect natural resources and ecological integrity. Individuals, communities, and institutions need to work individually and collaboratively to ensure stewardship of natural systems.

Finding an acceptable integration of local, regional, and national interests is not without difficulty. Issues involving public lands and marine resources, for instance, require that a broad, national perspective be maintained. However, local stakeholders for the various interests involved in a particular natural resources issue may be able to contribute to more informed and reasoned choices--collectively--for resolving issues. At the same time, many people who live at a distance from a particular natural resource system can have strong and legitimate interests in the broad, national perspective be maintained. However, local stakeholders for the various interests involved in a particular natural resources issue may be able to contribute to more informed and reasoned choices -- collectively -- for resolving issues. At the same time, many people who live at a distance from a particular natural resource system can have strong and legitimate interests in the outcome of its multiple uses. To ensure that all interests are represented, all stakeholders need to be involved in the decision process. Who are stakeholders? The definition needs to be broad. Stakeholders include those who live, work, recreate in, or are committed to the well-being of the watershed or other defining land form and the natural resources issues of concern. They include federal, state, and local governments; community members and institutions; businesses; national and other nongovernmental organizations; and private citizens.

Characteristics of successful collaborative approaches are emerging. Among them are use of a framework based on a natural system such as a watershed or bioregion, voluntary multistakeholder discussions, a transparent process open to the public, incorporation of existing law, and use of the best available science.

Government agencies at all levels have a pivotal role to play in encouraging stakeholders to search for common goals, resolve conflicts, apply the best available science, inventory and monitor natural resources status and trends, and exercise collective responsibility for overall natural resources conditions.

In addition, science and experience have shown the variety of resources, importance of ecological processes such as nutrient cycling, fire, and hydrologic cycles - some of which operate over broad geographic areas - in determining the condition of a natural resource in a particular place. For example, forest management policies and practices in the Rocky Mountain region were developed before the importance of fire as a factor in forest health was recognized. Because the role of ecosystem processes was not considered, today there are difficult and costly management decisions to be made to restore the vitality of the region's forest ecosystems and the local economies that depend on them.

The shift from managing a single resource or a single species to managing an ecosystem for a variety of resources, including the maintenance of its biodiversity, makes sense. And there are numerous advantages to using the best scientific, social, and economic information and fostering collaboration among landowners and other stakeholders -- actions that characterize this new generation of natural resources management. Scientific information is essential in identifying which ecosystem processes are vital to the productivity of a wide array of natural resources, while social and economic information can identify which strategies will best meet public demands and landowner objectives. Ecosystem management cooperative efforts can often be accomplished through voluntary participation, carefully accounting for landowner objectives. For example, properly planned forest management activities, including various types of harvesting, can be compatible with ecosystem processes and can be used effectively to simulate natural events.

Concerned about the cumulative impact of numerous local management actions, many scientists and resource managers now believe that biodiversity, water quality, and other natural resources can only be protected through cooperative efforts across large landscapes -- landscapes that often cross ownership boundaries. At the same time, conflicting demands for all resources are forcing public agencies to explore new planning and policy mechanisms that would involve broader public participation to minimize conflicts. Since 1992, federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. National Park Service, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, have established ecosystem management policies to guide their decisions for achieving various goals, including those set by law.

Independently, a number of efforts have been undertaken to combine the use of ecosystem approaches with greater public participation. They have used such mechanisms as regional planning or advisory groups to integrate natural resources management decisions. Conservation groups; local governments; private landowners; and forest products, energy, and utility firms -- among others -- are now involved in dozens of cooperative efforts to use ecosystem approaches for natural resources management around the country. More open communication and closer collaboration can enable ecosystem approaches to anticipate potential problems and conflicts, and identify potential solutions. Also, using adaptive management techniques to monitor results and incorporate lessons learned can ensure that shared goals are met and costly mistakes avoided.

Still, the effective and widespread application of collaborative ecosystem approaches faces a number of challenges. First, the approaches are new and experimental. Of the nearly 150 examples of ecosystem approaches to natural resources management in the United States identified by The Keystone Center's national policy dialogue on ecosystem management, nearly all have been initiated since 1990. Because the lessons of these early initiatives are just beginning to emerge, public agencies, landowners, and various interest groups can learn from these efforts. Second, ecosystem approaches offer the most promise for public and private lands that are managed for multiple uses such as forestry, fisheries, grazing, and recreation. It is in these areas that cooperative efforts to maintain important ecosystem processes will offer the greatest benefits for long-term resource productivity and biodiversity conservation.

Ecosystem approaches have been recognized by stakeholders with differing perspectives as a means to move forward in a new era in which scientific information, stakeholder communication, and management cooperation will be essential in making widely accepted decisions that perpetuate America's natural resources. The following recommendations provide a basis for making ecosystem approaches to natural resources management more effective.

While public lands play an important role in achieving a national goal of sustainability, private lands are also critical to achieving sustainability and natural resources conservation because 64 percent of the lands in the continental United States are privately owned.[10] Moreover, of the 728 species listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act, 50 percent are found on federal lands at least once, while the other 50 percent are found on a combination of nonfederal lands, including state and locally owned lands and private lands." To date, existing laws and regulations by themselves have not been entirely satisfactory in achieving positive results.

In the case of timber lands, encouraging improved stewardship of private industrial and nonindustrial forest lands offers an opportunity to enhance profitability and accrue long-term ecological benefits. Encouragement could come in the form of increased technical or financial assistance, or both. Nonindustrial private forest landowners own 287.6 million acres or 59 percent of the nation's 490 million acres. The forest industry owns another 70 million acres or 14 percent. 12 Although most forest lands are managed for multiple use, private forest lands are often managed with a stronger emphasis on fiber production than are public forest lands. Private lands are also capable of producing more wood at a lower cost per unit than public timber lands. Because of these factors, private forest land figures significantly in market-based approaches to promoting natural resources stewardship. A review of potential incentives for timber production on private forest lands might lead to opportunities to meet society's demand for forest products and provide jobs, a sound tax base, and high environmental quality in a more economically efficient way.

As discussed in chapter 2, "Building a New Framework for a New Century," correctly designed market incentives used within an appropriate regulatory framework can provide the most efficient set of tools to relieve and redirect pressures that are leading to degradation or depletion of the natural resource base on which the country's social, economic, and environmental vitality depends.

Public policies that undermine stewardship and encourage excessive exploitation of resources include public expenditures that lead to ecologically or economically harmful projects and tax policies that promote resource degradation. Public policies and private activities aimed at conservation can create a combination of economic self-interest, voluntary action, and, when necessary, regulatory controls to promote sustainability. By integrating public policy with market-driven economic incentives, including least-cost methods, appropriate regulations can encourage private property interests and users of public lands to make socially desirable and beneficial decisions that promote resource conservation. The challenge is to remove disincentives and establish incentives in three distinct areas.

• Subsidies. Many subsidies encourage consumption-based rather than conservation-based behavior by obscuring the true costs of decisions. Examples of subsidies in direct conflict with other laws and policies include subsidized overgrazing of public lands, leading to the destruction of habitat and reduced productivity. Similarly, cheap hydropower and subsidized diversion of water for irrigation jeopardize the continued existence of Columbia River salmon and other endangered species, and price supports for sugar production lead to habitat loss and increasing pollution of Florida waterways.

• Expenditures. Public expenditures on economic infrastructures such as roads, dams, schools, and industrial parks can "encourage investment and induce development in areas that might not otherwise be attractive to development; such developments are often environmentally dubious, too. This would be the case, for instance, when they encourage sprawl that requires new costly infrastructure or agriculture that requires costly subsidized electricity.

• Taxation. Tax codes and policies, if properly designed, can promote sustainability and resource conservation by creating incentives and disincentives to promote sustainability and can transfer value among various segments of society. These tools do not eliminate costs of sustainability and conservation, but rather transfer costs from the private to the public sector. Tax incentives include property tax reductions for those who commit to managing property for species of concern, tax credits for expenses incurred in improving degraded habitat or creating new habitat for target species, transferrable development rights and land swaps, or capital gains treatment of returns from sustainable managed timber operations to encourage this continued land use. Other incentives are tax deductions for income derived from economic activity on lands managed fully and perpetually for species of concern; inheritance tax reform to promote conservation by ensuring that large tracts of habitat do not have to be liquidated, broken apart, or devoted to more economically intensive use as a consequence of inheritance taxes (or their avoidance); capital gains tax deferral on land transfers that facilitate or continue to provide for conservation; and exploration of the use of conservation credits as a mechanism to create a market for environmentally protective actions.

In sum, executive and legislative bodies at the federal, state, local, and tribal levels responsible for tax, economic, and other policies that influence natural resources should remove disincentives that undermine stewardship and establish incentives for sustainable resources management and protection.

Securing Sustainable Agriculture

At the field level, sustainable use of technology and natural resources is essential to the maintenance of agricultural productivity. Appropriate use of soil and water helps to conserve these vital resources for future generations and promotes economic efficiency.

At the farm level, financial viability is important for the economic health of the agricultural sector and the development and quality of life of rural communities.

At the ecosystem level, health and sustainability depend heavily on agricultural activities. Because agriculture uses such a large amount of the land base and water supply, it inevitably has significant effects on wildlife habitat, recreation, marine and freshwater fisheries, municipal and industrial water treatment, shipping, and water storage.

At the national level, agricultural sustainability has many facets. Agricultural productivity determines food prices in the domestic market and influences the nation's ability to compete in export markets. The direction of agricultural research and development, coupled with economic incentives, plays a large role in farmers' production practices and therefore affects food costs and quality as well as the environment. Finally, agricultural markets and products account for 16 percent of U.S. employment.[13]

Consideration of sustainability at these various levels is woven throughout the following discussion and recommendations on sustainable agriculture.

Stewardship of prime farmlands is a fundamental component of sustainable agriculture. Prime farmlands are highly productive, versatile, or otherwise unique and are of strategic importance to the nation as a whole as well as to individual regions. A number of pressures, both internal to agriculture and external to it, threaten the quality of the natural resources base upon which domestic production of food, feed, fuel, and fiber depend. Although total cropland in the United States has stayed nearly constant since 1945 at 460 million acres, the loss of farmland to urban and other nonfarm uses can be a major local or state issue. Much of the best farmland is adjacent to major metropolitan areas and is being converted to nonagricultural uses.[14]

Management of farms and rangeland is a key part of sustainable agriculture. Mismanagement can result in negative environmental consequences and create a loss of productivity through such processes as erosion, salinization, overfertilization, and misuse or accidental releases of pesticides and fertilizers. Agricultural land use is a significant contributor to impaired water quality of rivers, lakes, and estuaries. Other consequences of agricultural land use include risks to human health, loss of wildlife habitat, and declining biodiversity.[15] Because of these factors, stewardship of productive cropland and grazing land as a natural resources base is critical to the nation's future.

Farmers and ranchers control a significant portion of the land area of the United States. Of the 1.9 billion acres of land in the United States (excluding Alaska), approximately 907 million are dedicated to agriculturally related purposes, including cropland, pasture, and rangeland.[16] Agricultural activities are central to both the national economy and rural economies and have significant effects on conservation of natural resources, governmental budgets, and international trade.

American agriculture is in transition. The number of farms declined by almost 31 percent,from 2.9 million in 1970 to 2 million in 1994, as the average size of farms increased about 28 percent in the same period. During the 1978-92 period, the number of families in farming decreased about 15 percent, and total farm employment dropped 19 percent.[17]

New strategies are needed to address the changing situation. In the past, federal and state governments have designed many resource conservation programs from the top down, with inadequate local involvement. Community priorities are often not heard or understood. To continue moving toward sustainable agriculture, local communities need to be empowered to participate.

Agricultural sustainability can be enhanced by the application of an integrated whole-farm/whole-ranch systems approach which addresses the social, economic, and environmental effects of agriculture and recognizes the interrelationships among management practices. The systems approach includes management of various factors, such as nutrients, pests, irrigation, and soil, on a site-specific basis. This approach involves steps to develop, demonstrate, and evaluate whole-farm and whole-ranch systems on a wider scale. The public and private sectors should encourage farmers to adopt this approach on a voluntary basis.

• Renewing and refining targeted land retirement programs to improve cost-effectiveness and enhance pollution prevention, wildlife, and conservation benefits;

• Building on conservation requirements of the 1985 and 1990 farm bills and the Farmland Protection Policy Act;"

• Giving greater protection to prime farmland from conversion to nonagricultural uses;

• Supporting initiatives for environmentally friendly pest management techniques with the goal of encouraging agricultural producers - with assistance from public and private partners - to implement integrated pest management;

• Managing animal waste to avoid pollution of ground and surface water;

  Reducing agricultural damage to local air and water quality and the global environment; and

• Reducing consumption of nonrenewable energy.

Successful promotion and adoption of sustainable agriculture practices depend on technological innovation and dissemination. Agricultural research should be refocused toward integrated farming systems that jointly address productivity, profitability, improved efficiency, and environmental protection. This will require more interdisciplinary research. Educational programs to transfer knowledge of existing and developing technologies can be improved. Effective transfer systems include mechanisms to teach and demonstrate these technologies at the local level. Institutions can provide incentives to reward those who develop such research and educational programs. In addition, it is important to recognize the efforts of U.S. agencies and international institutions that are promoting sustainable agriculture in developing countries.

Federal agricultural commodity programs should be made more flexible to encourage farmers to respond to market signals, improve crop rotations, and diversify the mix of agricultural goods produced, all to enhance profitability and environmental quality. Granting greater flexibility to farmers can result in environmental improvements when farmers adopt resource-conserving practices; this can also lead to gains in profitability as farmers become better equipped to manage in ways that reduce the amount of resources used. The historic lack of flexibility in base-acreage requirements, for example, has created barriers to diversification of operations, good stewardship practices and systems, and improved efficiency and profitability.

In practice, sustainable agriculture can:

• Ensure a readily available, affordable, and continuing supply of high-quality food and fiber to all sectors of American society;

• Provide commodities to fulfill a range of national objectives, including international trade and commitments for humanitarian food aid;

• Contribute to increasing efficiency and profitability on farms and to making rural communities vital and economically prosperous;

• Protect human health and the environment, with an increasing emphasis on pollution prevention; and

• Promote conservation of biodiversity through integrated farming systems.

Achieving Sustainable Management of Forests

In 1992, during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the United States announced its commitment to carry out ecosystem management on all federal forest lands. And, at the Second Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in 1993 in Helsinki, the United States declared its commitment to the goal of achieving sustainable management of all U.S. forests by the year 2000.[21]

A variety of international and domestic efforts are emerging that are intended to promote and expand sustainable forest management. These efforts include work by the U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies, the Forest Stewardship Council, the Canada-U.S. Association of Rainforest Alliances through the Smartwood Network, the Stewardship Incentive Program, and the Society of American Foresters through its Long-Term Health and Productivity Initiative. These efforts offer a variety of approaches, including technical assistance, education, financial incentives, monitoring, and certification. Also contributing to promoting and expanding sustainable forest management are U.S. efforts in international negotiations.

Private initiatives include the American Forest and Paper Association's adoption in 1994 of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.[22] This is a significant development. The association's membership is comprised of more than 400 forest and paper companies and related trade associations. Its members account for approximately 84 percent of the paper production, 50 percent of the solid wood production, and 90 percent of the industrial forest land in the United States. The initiative lays out principles and measures of performance for sustainable forestry management on industrial lands and nonindustrial private lands that supply timber to industry.

One of the key events in forestry is the Seventh American Forest Congress scheduled for February 1996 in Washington, D.C. It is being convened by a broad range of participant -- including environmental, industry, government, and academic leaders -- to develop a shared vision; set of principles; and recommendations for forest policy, research, and sustainable management of America's forests into the next century. Forest congresses have been held periodically since 1882 to provide a forum for rethinking the role of forests. The last one took place in 1975. The President's Council on Sustainable Development views the Seventh American Forest Congress as an opportunity to forge a nonpartisan, dynamic, and participatory course for the future. The Council's policy recommendation is intended to build on this and other initiatives already under way for sustainable management and protection of the nation's public and private forest lands.

Replenishing and Protecting Fisheries

From Georges Bank off the New England Coast to the Gulf of Mexico to the Columbia River, the decline is evident. For example, on the West Coast, 214 salmon runs are considered at risk, two of which are endangered due to commercial exploitation and habitat degradation. Habitat degradation, hydropower generation (which hinders salmon migration and diminishes water quality), hatchery practices, and harvesting activities are the primary causes of decreases in stocks of salmon and other anadromous fish. Habitat degradation, hatchery operations, and overharvesting also harm many estuarine fish.[23] The dramatic decline in freshwater, marine, and estuarine fisheries underscores the need for stewardship based on a system of effective laws, regulations, and programs.

Applying sound, comprehensive scientific information to the development of national fishery policy can reduce or eliminate much of the uncertainty that is impeding protection of freshwater and marine fisheries today. Implementation of science-based fishery management plans will help resolve the problems facing some fisheries, such as overfishing and the loss of spawning and nursery habitat, including fragile freshwater and coastal habitats. But improved management and correction of overfishing alone will not be enough to turn around the sharp decline in fish stocks. Protection and restoration of aquatic ecosystems and proper care of watersheds and riparian habitats are critically important. New policies need to be initiated and existing ones continued and enhanced to eliminate, mitigate, and prevent activities that degrade habitats.

Restore habitat and eliminate overfishing to rebuild and sustain depleted wild stocks of fish in U.S. waters.

Service and Forest Service, and by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The national natural resources surveys and regionwide ecosystem assessments focus primarily on generic resource categories.[24]

In addition, there is the national network of Natural Heritage Programs which provides more detailed information on the distribution and abundance of plant and animal species and types of ecosystems. This network of state databases is the product of 20 years of partnership efforts involving state government agencies and The Nature Conservancy. The resulting Heritage Network offers a comprehensive source of data on biological diversity and is a useful complement to other resource databases.

The long-ten-n goal for strengthening national natural resources information is to bring about better strategic and operational decisions at all levels of government and the private sector based on reliable, high-quality information that integrates economic, environmental, and equity considerations.

Creating Partnerships for Conservation

Private voluntary partnerships can complement efforts under the existing system of laws that safeguard the environment and public and private protected lands, including conservation areas and preserves that provide an important measure of biodiversity protection across the country. The ability of future generations to make a living in these areas will be influenced by the extent to which private owners' efforts to conserve the landscape receive recognition and support.

Voluntary partnerships for conservation will benefit by drawing on three principles: sharing the lessons already learned about conservation on private lands, recognizing the successful efforts of those who have taken steps on their own property to demonstrate natural resources stewardship, and creating incentives that assist landowners in developing conservation strategies. Conservation easements, land exchanges, and transfer of development rights are types of mechanisms that can recognize the economic concerns of the landowner and the common goal of conservation. Use of these tools as a part of voluntary partnerships can help ensure that ecologically sensitive lands receive a measure of protection, complementing the nation's system of public and private protected areas, conservation areas, and preserves.

[2] U.S. Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the United States 1994 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1994), p. 225, table 354.

[3] U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Division, Economic Research Service, AREI Updates: Land Trusts, No. 13 (Washington, D.C., 1995).

[4] The Conservation Reserve Program was established by the Food Security Act of 1985, Title XII, Pub. L. 99-198, 99 Stat. 1354.

[5] Interagency ecosystem Management Task Force, The Ecosystem Approach: Healthy Ecosystems and Sustainable Economies -- Volume II -- Implementation Issues (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1995), pp. 110-11; and U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Summary Report, 1992 National Resources Inventory Graphic Highlights (Washington, D.C., 1995), p. 1.

[6] U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service, Fifty Years of Population Change Along the Nation's Coasts, 1960-2010 (Washington, D.C., 1990), p. 41.

[7] Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, 31 U.S.C. 1115-19 (1995).

[8] Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. Ap.2 (1994).

[9] See U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Habitat Protection Activity Report 1991-1993 (Silver Spring, Md., 1994); and Proposed Recovery Plan for Snake River Salmon (Seattle, 1995).

[10] See Statistical Abstract of the United States 1994, p. 225, table 354.

[11] Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq. (1982); and Bruce A. Stein et al., "Status of U.S. Species: Setting Conservation Priorities," in U.S. Department of the Interior, National Biological Service, Our Living Resources -- A Report to the Nation on Distribution, Abundance, and Health of U.S. Plants, Animals, and Ecological Systems (Washington, D.C., 1995), pp. 399-400.

[12] Douglas S. Powell et al., , no. 234 (Fort Collins, Colo.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experimentation Station, 1994), p. 132.

[13] T. Alexander Majchrowicz and Jacqueline Salsgiver, "U.S. Farm and Farm-Related Employment in 1991," Agriculture Information Bulletin, no. 714 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, April 1995), p. 1.

[14] U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators, no. 705 (Washington, D.C., 1994), pp. 1-16.

[15] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water, National Water Quality Inventory, 1992 Report to Congress 841-R-94-001 (Washington, D.C., 1994).

[16] U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Summary Report, 1992 -- National Resources Inventory (Washington, D.C., 1994), p. 5.

[17] U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistical Survey, U.S. Number of Farms 1910-1993 (Washington, D.C.).

[18] U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Resources Inventory: Graphic Highlights of Natural Resources Trends in the United States Between 1982 and 1992 (Washington, D.C., 1995), p.3.

[19] Food Security Act of 1985; Agricultural Reconciliation Act of 1990, Pub. L. 101-508, 104 Stat. 1388; and Farmland Protection Policy Act, 7 U.S.C. 4201 et seq. (1982).

[20] Forest Resources of the United States, 1992.

[21] Information presented by Eldon Ross, associate deputy chief for research for the U.S. Forest Service, to the Second Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe, Helsinki, Finland, 16-17 June 1993, p. 4.

[22] Scott Wallinger, "A Commitment to the Future American Forest and Paper Association Sustainable Forestry Initiative," Journal of Forestry 93, no. 1 (January 1995): 16-19.

[23] See W. Nehlsen, J.E. Williams, and J.A. Lichatowich, "Pacific Salmon at the Crossroads: Stocks at Risk From California, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington," Fisheries 16, no. 2 (1991): 4-21; Habitat Protection Activity Report 1991-1993; and Proposed Recovery Plan for Snake River Salmon.

[24] U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, 1992 National Resources Inventory Backgrounder (Washington, D.C., 1995).

[25] For more information, see The Nature Conservancy, "The Nature Conservancy, Georgia-Pacific Corporation Form Pact to Protect Significant Watershed in Eastern U.S.," press release (Arlington, Va., 14 November 1994).