Land trusts work

Some 47 million acres of environmentally sensitive U.S. land -- an area twice the size of all national parks in the lower 48 states -- is off-limits to development. That's the result of sensitive federal and state policies that have placed that land in trust for all Americans.

Ohio has active 44 land trusts. New figures show that the Black Swamp Conservancy in Perrysburg locked down 5,572 acres in Ohio between 2005 and 2010, most of it farmland.

The law that created the Clean Ohio Fund authorizes Ohio to sell as much $50 million a year in bonds for land preservation. Such land is usually preserved through direct acquisition of property or voluntary transfer of development rights through conservation easements.

But land trusts don't act alone. Tax-supported park districts, such as Metroparks of the Toledo Area, have become more active in land acquisition.Metroparks has increased its landholdings 50 percent in the past decade.

Despite these successes, state, local, and federal officials need to take a keener interest in land-use policies and permits in Ohio, especially those that affect Lake Erie's coastal wetlands and the Oak Openings region's rare-plant habitat. Wise land use improves water quality.

Improvement in Ohio's economy will come largely because of smart conservation of -- not at the expense of -- its natural resources. Ohioans can be encouraged by the recent success of land trusts and park districts in preserving those resources from unwise exploitation, but the efforts cannot stop there.