A few green groups have long recognized the role that incentives, private property and market forces can play in protecting the environment. The Nature Conservancy, for example, has routinely used its own money to purchase and protect sensitive acreage.
Too many environmentalists, however, prefer to rely on government coercion to accomplish their goals.
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Perhaps, though, a few more green outfits are finally coming around.
Both the Environmental Defense Fund and the National Wildlife Federation have joined forces with the American Farm Bureau Federation to support a House measure that would provide tax credits to landowners who take steps to protect endangered species on their property.
The measure -- recognition that heavy handed enforcement of the Endangered Species Act has created a backlash among some property owners -- is also supported by the ranking Republican and Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.
"For too long now," Michael Bean, senior attorney for Environmental Defense, told The Associated Press, "we've been relying exclusively on regulations that had the unintended consequence of pitting landowners and environmentalists against each other."
The Endangered Species Act still needs to be reformed as long as eco-zealots can use it as an anti-development cudgel. But the House proposal is a step forward.
