The 5 Principles for Voluntary Conservation on Private Lands
As a conservation partnership we continue to fulfi ll the conservation legacy established in 1935 by Hugh Hammond Bennett. Although our responsibilities and roles have changed and our natural resource challenges have increased, many of Bennett’s ideas and principles about the critical role of conservation planning have withstood the test of time and still greatly inform our work today.
We can’t do conservation work only from behind a desk or windshield. We must walk the land, engage with the landowner/landuser, and see firsthand the natural resource challenges and opportunities.
Good science must be the foundation for voluntary conservation on private lands.
Natural resources concerns cannot be treated in isolation; soil, water, air, plants, animals, and humans are all part of an integrated system with interdependencies
Coordinated action must be focused on a watershed- or landscape-scale to gain the greatest positive and sustainable conservation outcomes.
Local leadership is critical to success; federal and state agencies must work in collaboration with local leadership to achieve desired conservation outcomes.
