President's Corner
Conservation and quality of life
by Mark C. Ackelson, INHF President

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As a reader of this magazine, you probably already know that conservation is critical not only to your personal well-being but to society's well-being: to our economy, public health and quality of life.

Sometimes I think it's the very depth of conservationists' convictions that blunts our effectiveness. Our belief in the inseparability of nature and humanity goes deeper than words, and so we forget to articulate those beliefs to others. Or if we do, we do not speak in a language that others understand.

That failure has cost us. As state and national budgets have tightened, conservation has borne more than its share of cuts. Meanwhile, we've allowed environmental policy to be created and destroyed without forcing policy-makers to examine the social and economic costs. If conservationists are going to make the case for more investment in our natural resources-let alone regain the ground we've already lost-we must find the words and the data to support what we know in our hearts.

Toward that end, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and other organizations have formed a new "roundtable" group-a gathering of conservationists, economists, sociologists, statisticians and others. The roundtable's mission is to collect social and economic data that link natural resource investment to Iowa's quality of life.

As the voice "for those who follow," we conservationists have a responsibility to speak up and speak well, and we hope the roundtable's findings will help move us in that direction. It's a work in progress, so keep watching this space in future magazines for updates.

For more information, e-mail Cathy Engstrom, Director of Communications, or call (515) 288-1846.