THE CEO’S CORNER: BEYOND BP

By David Braun

As I write, Americans are seeing nightly news images of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It is too early to tell just how extensive the environmental damage to the Gulf of Mexico will ultimately be, or even how many barrels of oil will be spilled. The worst fears for environmental catastrophe may not be realized, but most experts agree there will be significant long-term damage as a result of the spill, and that it will cost billions of dollars to clean up.

As bad as the BP spill is, I believe that our focus on the single incident misses the larger point. The Gulf of Mexico and all our waterways receive millions of small injuries on a daily basis (and have for decades) which are noticed by only a few concerned scientists and experts. Pollutants of all sorts are washing into our rivers and streams and making their way to the Gulf of Mexico every year in quantities that dwarf the daily output of the damaged oil well. Pesticides, fertilizers, petroleum products of all types, soil erosion and just plain garbage, all the byproducts of our modern lifestyle, wash off our land and streets and rooftops with every rainfall and do massive damage which goes unreported, in fact almost unnoticed, by the general public.

No matter how well we regulate the BPs of the world, we will not stop these small, independent acts of pollution until we educate and change the behavior of our whole society. The biggest challenge is to influence and change the decisions by millions of individual landowners and citizens all through the watersheds in which we live. I'm happy to say that Plateau's work with Texas landowners gives me hope that we are making real, lasting progress.

We see a trend of improved awareness and attention to stewardship emerging among the thousands of landowners we assist who are making the choice to adopt beneficial land and wildlife management practices. Every landowner who plants native grasses and restores wildlife habitat is helping to increase filtering and break down of pollutants before they reach the waterways. Every landowner who constructs a water retention feature or improves their grazing practices is helping to limit runoff of silt and waste into the ocean.

We sense an exciting growth of this trend as more and more landowners join the community of enlightened wildlife managers who seek advice from the Plateau team. As we enter our second decade of service to Texas landowners, Plateau is investing in new capacity and expanding the scope of its services, so we can help willing landowners do even more. In this edition of Seasons you will meet new members of our staff and be introduced to the new services we are offering through Plateau PLUS. It is this increasing demand from landowners that gives me hope that after the oil stops leaking we will eventually also stop the daily unintended, and ultimately more harmful, degradation of our environment.

David Braun is the CEO of Plateau Land & Wildlife Management and founder of law firm Braun & Associates.