House committee hears about private conservation success stories
The US House of Representative listened to a panel of enterprising citizens
highlight and document the important role of private stewardship in this country
and its lessons for forest management and species conservation in a September
14 hearing chaired by Representative Helen Chenoweth-Hage, chairman of the Subcommittee
on Forests and Forest Health of the House Resources Committee.
Robert J. Smith of the Center for Private Conservation provided a historical
perspective on the importance of private conservation and additional panel members
explained how they practice their avocations and careers with conservation in
mind.
Dr. A.G. "Skeet" Burris, owner of Cypress Bay Plantation in South
Carolina and an award-winning private forestland owner, told the committee how
he combines state-of-the-art silviculture practices with careful management
of wildlife habitat for game species, songbirds, and even endangered species.
Albro Cowperthwaite Jr., executive director of North Maine Woods, three million
acres of mixed-ownership private forestland, talked about this extraordinarily
innovative example of the successful balancing of the management of forests
for the production of forest products, protection of environmental amenities,
and provision of public recreation.
Andy Thompson, board member of the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania,
a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1934, told how the sanctuary protects
hawks, eagles, falcons and other birds of prey.
Paul Anthony, co-owner of Virginia's Natural Bridge, one of America's first
private conservation initiatives, told the committee how this vast limestone
arch purchased by Thomas Jefferson in 1774 has been privately preserved ever
since.
Billie Jean Redemeyer-Roney, co-owner of Roney Land & Cattle Company in
California's Sacramento Valley, told how her family has raised cattle and done
an exemplary job of protecting the environmentally important vernal pool habitat
and its rare and endangered invertebrates and flowers for 150 years.
Created in 1995, the CPC is a project of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
CPC researches, documents, and promotes the public benefits of private conservation
and private stewardship. For more information, contact Judy Kent, (202) 331-1010,
or e-mail cpcmedia@cei.org
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