Folks like Paul Thomas are willing to pay
a premium to ensure that the open Spaces - and their
multimillion-dollar views - remain undisturbed for
perpetuity.
"The fact is, only the extremely well-off can afford to protect
1,000 acres at a time," Scott says. "It's a partnership that we
should do everything we can to facilitate."
That same sense of optimism is heard more and more these days among
leaders in the conservation movement, one that increasingly rejects
the traditional knee-jerk reaction to development.
"There are definitely places that go out of the way to step as
lightly as possible on the land," says Elizabeth Humphrey,
executive director of the National Growth Management Leadership
Alliance. "We need to acknowledge that making a profit is
important, too."
Driving these profits is an American public with an increasingly
higher Environmental IQ, suggests Melody Flowers, campaign director
for the
Sierra Club's National Challenge to Sprawl campaign. "There
are consumers who are willing to pay top dollar to live in a place
that is less impactful on the environment."
Carter Brooksher is one of them. When choosing a second home in the
Colorado high country a few years ago, Brooksher, a "life-long
environmentalist," found herself enamored with the opportunity to
be part of the conservation-minded
Roaring Fork Club, a pricey
45-cabin, 300-acre golfing and fly-fishing community outside of
Aspen,
Colorado, where automobile traffic is not permitted.
Brooksher, who casts for brown trout from her porch, serves as
board member for the local Roaring Fork Conservancy. The
organization, dedicated to preserving and protecting the Roaring
Fork River, was launched with seed money from the developer. Today,
it continues to play a role in the life of the community, providing
"on-campus" educational programs on the fragile ecosystem and
involving residents in fundraising events and even hands-on
water-quality sampling.