Valuable Nature

There’s ample evidence in real estate copy these days of the escalating value of natural spaces. As the ads say, buy “in the coastal foothills,” “have nature at your feet,” “the grounds are not manicured,” live next to “the sanderlings, the egrets, and the herons.”

Looking for a property to increase in value? Buy adjacent to open-space property. Want the quality of life in your town to be improved or protected? Persuade the city to acquire and protect natural spaces.

Wouldn’t it be in the best interest of the cities to create a category called Natural Open Space (open space left in its natural state) and give it special protection? This is a category known to have the least maintenance cost and now appears to yield great benefits both in dollars and sense.

INEZ YODER, Carlsbad