The misinformation being spread about the U.S. government’s recommendation to create locally led, voluntary campaigns to conserve and restore 30 percent of America’s lands and waters by 2030 is so egregious that some Colorado landowners — the ones in the best position to use conservation for land and water protection — now believe conservation hurts them.
In fact, the initiative, known as America the Beautiful, or 30 by 30, is not a land grab. Nobody is taking away farmers’ and ranchers’ private property rights. Conservation and conservation easements are voluntary. And conservation easements, which are legal agreements to protect land in perpetuity, create more — not fewer — options for landowners.
Read Keep It Colorado’s op ed, Opinion: Critics of land conservation easements have twisted the concept beyond reality, in the August 30, 2022 edition of The Colorado Sun.
