The recent request to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list Natural Asset Companies (NAC) on the New York Stock Exchange has raised concerns across the United States and especially in the West. The trading of stock in NACs on the New York Stock Exchange invites investment by foreign investors, including foreign nations such as China and Russia who may be adversaries to our country.

Thankfully the SEC denied the request, but this will not be the end. NACs were born out of the 30x30 program, an international agenda advanced by radical environmental activists to permanently protect 30 percent of the world’s land and oceans in their natural state by 2030. The program in America was initiated by the Biden administration through Executive Order 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad” (86 Fed. Reg. 7,619), signed January 27, 2021.

In 2019, the progressive organization Center for American Progress published the primary report supporting the 30 x 30 program in America entitled “How Much Nature Should America Keep.” This was followed by a Resolution calling for the 30 x 30 program to be introduced in both the U.S. House (HR 835) and Senate (SR 372). One of the 10 Senators that co-sponsored the Resolution was current Vice President and Presidential candidate Kamala Harris. On the House side, one of the five co-sponsors was Representative Debra Haaland, now Secretary of the Department of Interior.

The Rockefeller Foundation, Jeff Bezos Earth Fund, Bill Gates, The Nature Conservancy, World Economic Forum and other global elites and environmental organizations promulgating the climate crisis narrative are actively driving this agenda. The 30x30 program and NACs are in the business of taking control of both public and private lands and keeping them in their natural state, ultimately removing people from the land. Conservation Easements in perpetuity are the tool being used to transfer control of the private property from the property owner to a third-party interest. Land Trust organizations can bundle their conservation easement holdings and enroll them in a Natural Asset Company. The property owner may never know their easement was enrolled in a NAC. Outside investors in the NAC would become the manager and control private property through the Conservation Easement contract without the consent or knowledge of the property owner.

The private property owner would become subservient to the holder of the conservation easement. The property owner’s use of the land, under a conservation easement, would be decided by the easement holder as to what may be allowed or restricted. Most often conservation easement contracts restrict or prohibit mining and mineral development, oil and gas development, timber harvests for commercial purposes, and even changing the current agricultural practices. The landowner must obtain permission from the holder of the conservation easement for numerous actions related to the use of the land. If the conservation easement is enrolled in a NAC, the property owner may find their land is now under control of foreign investors who may not have the best interest of the property owner in mind.

Why should everyone be concerned about Biden’s 30x30 plan and Natural Asset Companies? The simple answer is “Supply and Demand.” When property is taken out of production and reserved in its natural state, supply is reduced. The land once used for producing food, energy, and fiber is lost. Energy cost will increase. Food costs increase and food becomes less available to the people. Resources we use in our everyday lives becomes scarce and more expensive. We all should be concerned as this agenda is globally driven and not in the best interest of the American people.Kerry White is a fourth generation Montana native and the Executive Director of Citizens for Balanced Use (CBU), a multiple use organization formed in 2004. CBU advocates for multiple use recreational access, active forest management and responsible resource development on our federally managed public lands. White served in the Montana House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021, including 6 years as Chairman of House Natural Resource Committee and 8 years on the Montana Environmental Council.