Bottom-Up Versus Top-Down Land Conservation (Spring 2013)

Most national and state land-conservation efforts are top-down projects, but evidence suggests that it is becoming increasingly important to focus on bottom-up strategies. In this look at grassroots community-based conservation, the authors describe the ongoing negative effects of the top-down approach, and explain, “When groups of citizens come together to start a conversation about the future of the land they love, and act together to protect it, this creates a more durable project. Both the land and local citizens are better served.” by Steven I. Apfelbaum, MS, Alan Haney, PhD, and Alvaro F. Ugalde, MS