AIRPHOTO/JIM WARK
A drop in land values has made it possible for TPL to acquire important properties for conservation. Above: Colorado River frontage near Blythe, California,
will be restored and managed as wildlife habitat. Previous page: Camp Ojiketa, Minnesota, shown in a photo from the early 1970s, will be a regional park.
Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen
Commission on Minnesota Resources.
unprecedented budget crisis—caused in large measure by a
drop in tax revenues due to the recession—prompted it to
freeze spending on all conservation acquisitions. All over
the state, conservation temporarily came to a standstill; at
one point early in 2009, as many as 4,000 previously
JONMULLEN/ ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
America’s National Grasslands were acquired during the Great Depression
of the 1930s. Above: The Pawnee National Grasslands, in Colorado.
approved, bond-funded conservation projects were on
hold. As this issue of Land&People goes to press, California’s
funding of conservation projects has not resumed.
Taken together, the stories illustrate the puzzle of
trying to conserve land in times of economic distress.
On the one hand, funds for conservation dry up as
everyone from individual donors to the federal government feels inclined to tighten their belts. On the other
hand, recessions also can create great bargains and conservation opportunities—if money can be found to
complete the efforts.
MOTIVATED SELLERS
Historically, economic downturns have been a boon to
conservation, points out Ernest Cook, senior vice president of national programs for TPL. “Some of the great
national forests, wildlife refuges, and national grassland
reserves that we have today and from which we benefit so
much came from the Great Depression, when land values
absolutely hit bottom.”
Whether we are approaching anything like that
kind of collapse in land values is unclear, but certainly
