The question is one of permanence. Will Americans be strong enough to stand up for our parks and open spaces, for wild rivers and wilderness? Is their value above and beyond money?

Why Defense of Place: Founder's Essay

How Long is Forever?
By Huey D. Johnson, Founder and President Resource Renewal Institute

How do we respond when the value of land has risen exponentially and the pressure for development increases? What is our obligation to continue to preserve parks created by past generations? When we promise to preserve such spaces in perpetuity, how long is forever?

The question is one of permanence. Will Americans be strong enough to stand up for our parks and open spaces, for wild rivers and wilderness? Is their value above and beyond money?

Defense of Place is committed to making sure our protected lands stay that way. We stand not only for the places themselves, but also for the principle of law that provides for their protection.

The Public Trust is a legal doctrine founded in recognition that some public assets are so valuable to the health and equity of society that they cannot be sold or given away. Instead, this historic legal framework provides that they be managed in trust for the benefit of all people for all time.

Land set aside for parks and open space is not an extension of a government's bank account or institution's line of credit. It is placed in a public trust to be enjoyed by current and future generations forever.

Great Britain has met such challenges. It protects its national land legacy through a National Trust. The principles upon which the National Trust was founded are deeply engrained in the society's values. No one would consider development in a park that had been donated for preservation.

New Zealand recently passed a law that places all remaining old-growth trees on public lands into preserved status, never to be cut. New Zealand's parliament concluded that there are values that go beyond dollars, and that those forests are too valuable to lose.

In the United States, the New York has City has faced such challenges many times - so many that Central Park would be layered 17 times over with buildings if all the proposals for its development had been allowed. The preservation of Central Park speaks volumes about the culture of New York.

At Defense of Place, we believe that we can and must preserve our heritage. That's why our organization is dedicated to increasing the amount of preserved land and aggressively protecting the legacy left to us by previous generations. More importantly, we're dedicated to changing the culture so that future generations will know this: forever means forever. Our common legacy demands nothing less.

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