Some people who live on land protect it, others do not, especially miners.
Look at a picture of Butte, Montana sometime and ask yourself if the people of Butte seem to have been good caretakers.
Were the people who lived there given choice?
Farmers are very diffrent from miners , even when the same person is both.
When Extention agents taught soil conservation to farmers in the 30s and 40s they were teaching the results of colledge research to people who were eager for the improvement, contour plowing and windbreaks became common .
This isn't true anymore , although the owner farmer still exists , he is now a minority and most farmland belongs to corporations whose ownership does not intend to learn farming or make the farm a family heritage.
Contour plowing is not easy , and windbreaks do not improve yeald, so these features are being phased out.
The modern farmer might as well be a miner.
