In the United States, two-thirds of lands are private, and 85 percent of 
all wildlife is found on these private lands. Who is responsible for 
wildlife found on private lands—the government, who has the authority 
to manage wildlife on behalf of all citizens, or the landowners? How 
can governments carry out their management mission without 
encroaching on the property rights of landowners? How can 
landowners be encouraged to manage and preserve wildlife?

    The authors attempt to answer these questions, examining ways 
that public and private sectors can work together considering ways 
governments and landowners can be good stewards of the public's 
wildlife using recreation, tax advantages, and cost shares as 
incentives.

_________________________________________________________

DELWIN E. BENSON is professor and extension wildlife specialist 
in the Department of Fishery and Wildlife Biology at Colorado State 
University. ROSS "SKIP" SHELTON is both former distinguished 
professor of wildlife and land policy in the Department of Agriculture 
and Natural Resources at the University of Tennessee at Martin and 
affiliated faculty member in the Department of Fishery and Wildlife 
Biology at Colorado State University. DON W. STEINBACH, now 
retired, was professor and extension specialist in the Department of 
Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at Texas A&M University.


Number One: Texas A&M University Agriculture Series


What people are saying about this book

". . . a useful guide for people interested in protecting biodiversity on 
private lands. It is full of creative ideas for encouraging landowners to 
be good stewards of the land. Private land conservation is essential to 
the future of wildlife in America and the rest of the world. This book 
will advance the cause of conservation by giving landowners practical 
tools that can be easily implemented."—Melinda Taylor, Director, 
Environmental Defense Fund Landowner Conservation Assistance Program

"Wildlife Stewardship and Recreation on Private Lands offers practical 
solutions to some very real dilemmas that we face as resource managers. 
The global approach to evaluating the impact of mankind on our wild land 
resources, and the associated need and demand for sound stewardship 
practices are unique and valuable. The book is a timely work that offers 
some sound concepts about how we can work together in stewardship of 
these lands and in the process, offers a practical approach to gaining 
access to the 80 percent of our national wild lands that are privately owned."
—David E. Wesley, Vice President, Marketing & Planned Giving, Rocky 
Mountain Elk Foundation

"As time passes, it becomes more and more obvious how important 
private lands are to maintenance of wildlife habitat—and in turn wildlife—in 
the United States. . . . This book does a most excellent job of delivery 
into the complexities, frustrations, rewards, and mechanism of 
management applicable to dealing with publicly owned wildlife on private 
lands."—Jack Ward Thomas, Chief Emeritus, U.S. Forest Service, and 
Professor, University of Montana

"The Preface of this work starts: ‘The role of landowners in providing 
wildlife conservation, recreational opportunities and ecosystem 
management on private lands . . . is not well established in either 
theory or practice.’ The following pages constitute a recommended 
primer for the establishment in both."—Richard McCabe, Vice President, 
Wildlife Management Institute