Why Robert Smith is wrong about Ronald Reagan’s environmental record.
Last week in The American Spectator, CEI’s Robert Smith criticized the organization I head, the R Street Institute, for celebrating the anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s dedication of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. Some of Smith’s arguments have merit and aren’t points we’d dispute. However, in the end, he misses the point.
Among our areas of agreement: private land ownership is valuable, and private efforts at conservation and responsible land management should be encouraged and rewarded. Most land in the United States is in private hands and should remain that way. Many public lands should be sold off to the private sector or opened to private use and development.
In addition, we must put an end to senseless mandates on private property and dirty tricks that degrade the value of privately held land. Even the Endangered Species Act, a sacred cow to much of the environmental movement and a favorite of the likes of Newt Gingrich, ought to be reviewed.
But conservation of public lands is not an all-or-nothing tradeoff. That’s where we part ways with Smith.
Smith claims that federal acquisition of land “undermines conscientious private stewardship of land, waters, and other natural resources.” Certainly the amount of land the federal government holds should be constrained, but the truth is, effective public management of a limited number of acres can and should go hand-in-hand with private management. It necessarily supports it. Advocates of limited government should see the value in this dual strategy.
