posted by

Eastern New York Chapter

1736 Western Avenue
Albany, NY 12203
(518)
869-0453

August 4, 1992

Brian Gilbert
PO Box 96
Poestenkill, NY 12140

Dear Mr. Gilbert,

Please excuse my delayed response to your inquiry about The Nature
Conservancy’s policy on fishing on lands we own and manage. I’ve been
collecting some information from other stewards on their policies around
the country in the hopes of providing you with up-to-date and complete
information.

The Conservancy’s national policy prohibits fishing on all of our lands
across the country. There are exceptions to this rule, but the reasons for
the policy are based on The Nature Conservancy’s mission. The
Conservancy’s sole goal is to preserve plants, animals and natural
communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting
the lands and water they need to survive. With this in mind, any other use
of an area we own must, first and foremost, uphold this mission to even be
considered a viable option.

Allowing fishing on Conservancy preserves is site dependent and based
on how fishing would impact the ecological system. The McCloud River
Preserve in California, the Phantom Canyon Preserve in Colorado and the
Silver Creek Preserve in Idaho are a few of examples where fishing is
allowed. At these places, The Conservancy permits certain types of catch
and release fishing. The policies are site specific to the actual
conditions at each preserve. Research and monitoring occurs regularly and
thus far, the types of fishing prescribed have not been detrimental to
overall diversity of the areas.

Ecological reasons do exist for not allowing fishing. A recent study
conducted by Trout Unlimited shows that there is a large impact on insect
fauna that utilize water corridors for their life cycle completion. The
study indicates that trampling caused by shore fisherpersons can cause
significant declines in mayfly and caddis fly populations. These insects,
in turn, are food for many fish. A possible decline in the fish population
could occur from the trampling of the insects and their habitat. This
causes the overall biological diversity of the site to decline, directly
in conflict with our main mission. The Conservancy has cooperated, and
continues to do so, with both national and local fishing organizations to
utilize this type of information and work toward compatible solutions to
the problems on a site by site basis. Joint funding of studies to
determine use issues can be very
successful.

Page 2

As discussed during our phone conversation, some confusion over our
policy arises because of our work with other government agencies. The
Conservancy, as part of our business, works very closely with both federal
and state agencies, to acquire lands to establish or add to places such
as, our National Wildlife Refuges, State Parks and state game management
areas. These lands are purchased with public funds (not ours) and by and
large our role is to act as an efficient real estate broker. We do not
invest members’ dollars in these acquisitions and as a result, may have
very little control over the actual management of the properties. The
majority are purchased with funds generated by the sale of hunting and
fishing licenses.

We also cooperate with other non-governmental organizations in
protecting lands. Development of management policies on these lands
depends on the goals of the organization and whether the properties can
handle the impacts of the proposed use.

At the Eastern NY Chapter, in many cases we may not know how fishing
would impact the area. The Nature Conservancy is a private, non-profit,
land owning organization, that abides by one mission. Unfortunately, we do
not always have the people-power or funding in place to study and monitor
the impacts of fishing on our preserves, so we choose to avoid impacts by
not allowing it. We are flexible, and are willing to change our policies
when an increased knowledge promotes it.

In closing, The Conservancy is not against fishing overall. We use our
mission as our guide to whether its occurrence is compatible at each
particular preserve site we own.

I hope this explanation is useful to you and your colleagues. Thank you
for your interest in The Nature Conservancy.

Sincerely,

Brenda Hunt
Land Steward

CC. Peg Olsen\Executive Director-ENYC
Amy Lester\Dir. Science and
Stewardship-NYRO
Bob Unasch\Dir. Biological Management-National
Office

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