Why do we conserve and protect land and nature? -- to enjoy recreational benefits? for clean water and air? for the Rights of Nature? to stop extinctions? (Biologist EO Wilson says if 50% of the Earth were under protection, mass extinctions would stabilize at 80%.) In the US there are about 600 million acres owned by the public, and 56 milion acres in private land trusts. How are these lands protected? How are public lands affected by the land transfer movement, which is driven by groups such as ALEC and Americans for Prosperity to increase resource extraction? This month the Recovery Zone focusses on private and public land conservation efforts, what's been accomplished, why it matters, and with the Trump White House and Republican-controlled Congress, what's at risk and what can be done.
Guests include Glenn Lamb, Executive Director of the Columbia Land Trust, Alex Harris, Public Lands Coordinator at Oregon Wild, and Jim Thayer, author of Hiking from Portland to the Coast: An Interpretive Guide to 30 Trails. Jim is also on the Board of the Columbia Land Trust. Your questions and comments are welcome: 503-231-8187.
- KBOO