Good Group, Good Idea

Hardly enough can be said about the good work everywhere of the Nature Conservancy, a private nonprofit group that raises funds to buy special natural areas threatened with development--especially areas that provide habitat for endangered species. The conservancy has launched an ambitious and intriguing new project that merits special attention and possible emulation in other regions.

The conservancy has set out to raise more than $10 million to purchase 102 special sites throughout the 400-mile-long Connecticut River Valley in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut. About 6,700 acres of ponds, islands and rich riparian habitat are involved. The areas are home to about 30 threatened or endangered plants and animals--including the American bald eagle, the piping plover and the showy ladyslipper orchid.

On the open market the properties might cost as much as $40 million. But the Arlington, Va.-based organization will solicit donations or sale at special prices. Assistance will be sought from state and federal governments. The conservancy is moving ahead with the project now because of the soaring cost of riverfront land, especially along the lower stretches of the river in southern Connecticut.

The Connecticut River project is reminiscent of the excellent proposal of William Penn Mott, director of the National Park Service, to develop a national park or recreation area out of an entire river system. State, federal and private officials should take an inventory of special riparian habitats in California, like the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, for this sort of protection. River systems are systems of rich natural life and continuity. The best of these areas also are often the most attractive for economic development. The truly unique areas, particularly those with imperiled species, must be identified and preserved now while there is still a chance.