Is Environmental Resource Conservation Still Possible?
Supporting conservation by developing resource value relationships. The recent world wide economic crisis has drastically refocused our priorities. Many of us have seen our retirement portfolios dwindle and real estate values plummet, while federal, state and local governments are scrambling for funding as budgets disappear. Even obtaining financing for all but the essentials has become more difficult. Advisors caution U.S. President-elect Barack Obama that reversing the economic crisis should be the top priority, perhaps leaving environmental issues to languish until better economic times. A natural response to the recent drop in real estate market value might be to reduce or withdraw funding and financial support for environmental planning and management. While current real estate market prices for land take into account prospective buyer’s willingness and ability to purchase, they reflect only a portion of the value associated with the resource attributes of the land. In addition to
