Encyclopedia of Global Resources part 73 ppsx

applies have three dimensions: biological, temporal, and geographical. In the anthropocentric perspective of ethics, the relevant moral community includes only Homo sapiens, while in the nonanthropocentric perspective (biocentrism, ecocentrism, ecofeminism, and deep ecology) the moral community is holistic and includes other nonhuman entities. This means that the moral community also includes, as Leopold said, soil, water, plants, and animals—or, in a single word, the entire Land. Therefore, all forms of life have an in- trinsic value and deserve moral concern indepen- dently of their utilitarian value for humans. However, whether this means only sentient forms of life or also nonsentient forms, and whether this isaresponsibility toward individuals or groups of individuals such as species, ecosystems, or ecological communities, remains open for debate. This enlarged and holistic responsibility to other forms of life extends also to future generations and to other geographic areas— in fact, to the entire Earth ecosystem. From a nonanthropocentric point of view, only those actions that tend to preserve the integrity and stability of the ecosystems at a local and global scale can be considered correct. Since Leopold first enunciated the basic principles of his land ethic in the 1940’s, nonanthropocentric perspectives gained gradual acceptance in society and in political discourses. Though the 1972 U.N. Stock- holm Declaration on the Environment may be within the anthropocentric ethical paradigm, documents and policies adopted by the United Nations in relation to the environment in the 1980’s and afterward reflected increasingly nonanthropocentric and nonconsequen- tialist perspectives. That was the case of the U.N. World Charter for Nature (1982), which stated the principle that human needs should be fulfilled with full respect for the essential natural processes; the cre- ation, in 1983, of the U.N. World Commission on En- vironment and Development, which produced the landmark report Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report; the subsequent developments associated with the Earth Summit of 1992 in Rio de Ja- neiro, Brazil; and conventions on other environmental issues. Carlos Nunes Silva Further Reading Beatley, Timothy. Ethical Land Use: Principles of Policy and Planning. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac. Updated ed. Topeka, Kans.: Topeka Bindery, 2000. Silva, Carlos Nunes. “Urban Planning and Ethics.” In Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy, edited by Jack Rabin. New York: Marcel Dekker, 2005. See also: Agenda 21; Deep ecology; Earth Summit; Ecology; Ecozones and biogeographic realms; Inter- national Union for Conservation of Nature; United Nations climate change conferences; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Land Institute Category: Organizations, agencies, and programs Date: Established 1976 Through its Natural Systems Agriculture, the Land Institute seeks to make conservation a consequence of agricultural production by returning to natural and diverse perennial grain crops, as opposed to single species annual crops. Its mission is to improve food and fi- ber security, lessen soil erosion, reduce dependency on and pollution caused by fossil fuels and toxic chemicals, and enhance sustainable agriculture based on ecosystems that existed before industrialized agriculture. Background Globally, the demand for and production of food continue to increase, and major grain crops, such as wheat and corn, make up more than two-thirds of the human caloric intake. Plant geneticist Wes Jackson believed that the best agricultural practices are not being used to produce these grains. As a result, current methods of agricultural production may not be sustainable in the future because of their negative impact on global ecology. Among these practices are overreliance on nonrenewable resources such as fossil fuels. In addition, growing single-species annual crops, especially in areas that are not suitable for their production, causes serious soil erosion and depletion of nutrients from the soil because of tilling. This loss in soil and nutrients ultimately results in reduced production. Moreover, toxins, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides necessary to sustain nonnative, annual, single-species crops are increasingly being found in human tissues. 668 • Land Institute Global Resources In 1976, Jackson left a tenured teaching position at California State University, Sacramento, to create the Land Institute, which has become a globally recognized model of sustainable agriculture. With his wife, Dana, Jackson founded the Land Institute for the purpose of performing sustainable agriculture research and breeding plants that would have the ecological stability of native, perennial prairie plants but would yield grain in amounts comparable to annuals. Extremely critical of industrialized agriculture, Jackson sought to explore the possibilities of “perennial polyculture” as an alternative to the growing and harvesting of annual grains. One of his primary concerns was to halt the soil erosion that he believed was exacerbated by monocultureorsingle-speciesagricul- ture techniquesandthathebelievedwouldeventually lead to a crisis in American agriculture. The Jacksons established the Land Institute in Sa- lina, Kansas, on a minimal budget, constructing the institute’s building themselves. Although sustainable agriculture was the main purpose of the facility, early experiments involved testing wind power and using hay bales to construct houses. In 1980, Jackson pub- lished a book entitled New Roots of Agriculture that argued against agricultural practices that have been on- going for more than ten thousand years, because of his belief that they are not sustainable. Jackson proposed a new formof agriculture based on natural ecosystems, which became known as Natural Systems Ag- riculture. Natural Systems Agriculture, as practiced on the Kansas prairie, involves the growing of diverse perennial plants to prevent depletion and erosion of the soil and destruction of the ecosystem. The Land Institute consists of a 111-acre nonprofit research and education facility for a small number of students. The Land Institute utilizes the natural, sur- rounding prairie land for ecology and agronomy research and observation. The main research facility at the Land Institute is a large greenhouse. In-house scientists, including breeders and agroecologists, work with ten to twelve graduate students who receive fel- lowships to participate in the institute’s research programs. The students also work on the institute’s farm while completing an intensive, alternative education program. These students develop into informed mul- tidisciplinary leaders who are dedicated to building a sustainable agriculture and integrating it into a sustainable society. The research that takes place at the Land Institute involves breeding prototype plants from native edible perennial grains. Scientifically, the Land Institute has shown that producing perennial, edible grain crops is feasible. The goal of the institute is to one day make these grain crops commercially feasible. Although sustainable perennial agriculture may not be available until 2030 or later, the Land Institute has made great strides in developing some of the following crops: perennial wheat varieties, drought-hardy grain sorghum, the prairie legume known as Illinois bundleflower, and a perennial species of sunflower. In the future, the Land Institute hopes to breed addi- tional perennial grain species from crops such as rice, flax, maize, and chickpeas. The Land Institute has col- laborated with many public institutions to carry out its Natural Systems Agriculture research in locations other than the Land Institute facility. The institute shares its research willingly and distributes perennial parent seeds freely, with the objective of supporting scientists conducting related research worldwide. Impact on Resource Use Jackson, through his agricultural practices at the Land Institute, seeks to develop what he refers to as an ecological agriculture, or a marriagebetweenecology and agriculture. This ecological agriculture involves the production of multiple plant species rather than just one and the planting of perennial rather than annual grain crops. Significant challenges include breeding perennials with increased seed yields and with heads of grainthatresist shattering, as wildgrains typically release their seeds if knocked. The Land In- stitute supports research mainly in two areas: perennial grain crop production, through breeding and nurturing of new major grain crops and domestica- tion of wild perennials, and diversification of grain crops to achieve more efficient use of nutrients and water, enhance pest and disease control, and increase productivity. The Land Institute has several programs that seek to develop sustainable agriculture and prosperous, enduring human communities. These programs include Perennial Grain Cropping Research, the Cli- mate Energy Project, and Sunshine Farm Research. In addition, the Land Institute offers short courses to scientists and nonfarmers and conducts seasonal festi- vals for the purpose of educating others about its Nat- ural Systems Agriculture. The Land Institute’s “Land Report” and numerous other educational outreach projects, such as its Prairie Writer’s Circle, help pro - mote the institute’s mission, demonstrate the resil - Global Resources Land Institute • 669 ience and sustainability of natural systems, and ex - plain how natural ecosystems apply to agriculture and human communities. The purpose of the Perennial Grain Cropping Re- search program is to breed and nurture perennial prototypes of annual grain crops that do not require tilling, chemicals, or pesticides. This program’s dual goals are to supply humanity’s food needs while con- serving resources and eliminating toxins. Both plant breeders and agroecologists work in this program. The Climate Energy Project (CEP) came about after a serious drought in Salina, during which the local river went dry. The CEP, now located in Lawrence, Kansas, has many purposes, including public outreach and education about climate and energy conservation. The CEP is also involved in climate change and renewable energy research. The CEP maintains a website that provides educational materials. The Sunshine Farm Research Program seeks to re- spond to the fundamental and underlying question concerning the Land Institute’s Natural Systems Agri- culture: Can this new form of agricultural production based on a perennial polyculture be profitable for the small farmer? One purpose of this ten-year program has been to model a farm based on Natural Systems Agriculture. The model farm uses renewable energy including Sun power, wind power, photoelectric cells, and other natural sources that can be generated on the farm rather than using fossil fuel. Further reduc- tions in fossil-fuel use are achieved by using refined soybean oil rather than diesel fuel in farm equipment and returning to draft horses for some of the farm work. In addition, soil erosion is reduced by raising hybrid perennial crops rather than annuals, and toxic chemical use is mitigated through planting of geneti- cally diverse grain crops that are pest resistant. The Sunshine Farm Research Program also involves com- parison of energy, materials, and labor data from a 20.2 hectare farm raising conventional crops with the same data from a 40.5 hectare perennial grain pasture for cattle grazing. The data will assist in the affordability and sustainability analyses of the new farming techniques. The potential for sustainable agriculture is important. The Land Institute plans to continue research into such diverse areas as biofuel and ethanol production and how they may impact future food production, the use of crop biomass for synthetic organics, community-scale farmer cooperatives, alternative en - ergy strategies, and perennial grain breeding. The Land Institute also had proposed to study ecological community development, asopposedtoconventional economic development, in Matfield Green, Kansas. However, the institute sold its properties in Matfield Green. People may visit the Salina facility, which includes prairie flora and herb gardens and an area of virgin tall-grass prairie, containing more than two hundred naturally growing species. Other displays at the Salina facility concern alternative energy and environmental strategies. Thomas A. Eddy, updated by Carol A. Rolf Further Reading Jackson, Wes. New Roots for Agriculture. Lincoln: Uni- versity of Nebraska Press, 1985. _______. “The Next Forty-nine Years.” Public Library Quarterly 27, no. 2 (2008): 167-173. Richards, Donald. “Economics and ‘Nature’s Stan- dard’: Wes Jackson and the Land Institute.” Re- view of Radical Political Economics 41, no. 2 (2009): 186-195. Web Site The Land Institute http://www.landinstitute.org See also: Agriculture industry; Agronomy; Erosion and erosion control; Jackson, Wes; Land management; Monoculture agriculture; Soil management. Land management Category: Environment, conservation, and resource management Efforts put toward using land to its best advantage are collectively called land management. Land management decisions affect both public andprivatelands,and they entail such issues as what use or uses—agriculture, forestry, mining, industry, residential development, and ecological preservation—should be encour- aged or discouraged in a given area. Appropriate land management has become increasingly importantascon- cernsaboutpollution and theenvironmenthavegrown. Background “Land management” is a term that describes deci - sions and practices regarding the uses of land. Land 670 • Land management Global Resources management may emphasize any one of a variety of different land uses. Farmers, for example, may manage their land to obtain the most efficient crop production, while city planners seek to ensure that land within their boundaries is used to benefit the community as a whole. The land that comprises the fifty United States covers about 9.06 million square kilo- meters, and to some extent laws govern the management of every centimeter, public or private. The in- tent of much of this legislation is to prevent practices that pollute or harm the environment in other ways. Whether landowners wish to harvest timber, graze livestock, or operate ski areas, legislation sets clean air and water requirements. Permitsare also required for any activity that disturbs stream beds or changes the channel of a water course. As population increases, public land administra- tors are under greater pressure to resolve conflicts over land use while protecting the land from abuse. Myriad questions may be raised. How much timber- land should be cut for forest products, and how much preserved for watershed and wildlife? Should New York City, for example, restrict economic development in the Hudson River watershed to reduce pollu - tion caused by storm-water runoff? Public Land Management In 1960, Congress passed the Multiple-Use Sustained- YieldAct. In many respects it simply codified practices (particularly regarding forest management) that had been followed informally since the early twentieth century. Under a multiple-use approach, land is managed so as to support more than one use (such as forestry and recreation) simultaneously. Sustained yield refers to management (again, particularlyforest management) that fosters continuous production without depleting the resource. A few years later, in 1964, the Public Land Law Re- view Commission was chartered to study federal land policies. Its report, released in 1970, was criticized for its recommendationthatthere bedesignatedareas on public lands that would produce income for private companies, such as mining and ranching interests. Termed “dominant use,” the concept was not new. In 1878, John WesleyPowell,anexplorer and member of a commission to study public lands, had proposed Global Resources Land management • 671 The Lost Coast of California is one of the National Conservation Areas controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. (©James Bossert/Dreamstime.com) that public lands be classified according to whether the land’s most appropriate use was irrigated farming, livestock grazing, timber harvesting, or other uses. Critics of dominant use argued that a variety of activities should be allowed in any given area of public land. Congress formed separate management systems requiring different management approaches for national forests, parks, wildlife refuges, and grasslands. In 1964, the Wilderness Act created another form of land management, one that recognized and empha- sized recreation. The result was more hiking and bik- ing trails, ski areas, and campgrounds as well as improved access to these recreational opportunities. In areas where primary uses overlap, such as a forest- covered mountain, a multiple-use approach permits different activities on or near the same site, such as logging alongside a ski area boundary. A flurry of legislation in the 1970’s, including the Federal Land PolicyandManagementActand the Na- tional Forest Management Act, both enacted in 1976, had important consequences for public lands. For the first time, public comment was invited, and input from many diverse groups made setting common goals for public land management nearly impossible. Gridlock developed among those with various private rights to public lands (such as ranchers with grazing rights, outfitters and guides with hunting rights, and forest products companies with timber-cutting rights) and wilderness supporters with recreational-userights. Water, Mining, Rights-of-Way, and Wildlife Water rights are extremely important in the arid West. Land managers may register water rights and can then withdraw water if it is available. When allocation is restricted, those with the earliest dates of water use receive their allocations first. Such is not the case in the East, where water rights are not an issue. City dwellers can expect a rush of water when they turn a faucet and are not faced with negotiating their individual water rights. The greatest source of income from U.S. public lands is royalties from oil, gas, and coal. Ninety percent of federal lands were once open to mining, but with passage of the Wilderness Act (1964), many public lands became off-limits to mining. A variety of legislation covers mining on federal land, the central act being the General Mining Act of 1872. It has provi - sions allowing citizens to lay claim to a specific tract of federal land for an annual fee. The claimant then has mining and surface rights. This law remains in effect but has been limited through the years. In 1920, oil and coal were removed from coverage under the act and covered by separate legislation; in 1955, common rocks and minerals were withdrawn; and in 1976, all national parks were withdrawn. Both public and private land managers routinely exchange right-of-way agreements to allow passage of livestock or access to timber sales. Private landowners of vast tracts of forest or rangeland often permit public access for recreational use. Wildlife on public and private land is subject to state and federal regulations, and game harvests are regulated. In many states private landowners with farmland damaged by game animals can apply for a depredation hunt, but they can- not legally trap or harvest the animals without state permission. Similarly, hunting seasons for waterfowl and migratory game birds are set by the federal government, and these seasons must be followed by all land managers, public and private. Federal, State, and Private Management There has been considerable debate concerning the effectiveness of private versus public management, and of federal versus state or local management. Pri- vate landowners have a strong financial incentive to take care of their land and use it wisely, or at least prof- itably. Public managers do not have the same motivation. Some advocates propose returning federal public lands to state and local ownership or control, thereby letting those people paying the bills—the local taxpayers—see that the lands are managed wisely. Opponents of this proposal argue that state managers could not manage the land as effectively as federal managers and fear that eventually the land would be acquired by private owners. There are existing state public lands; most are small and scattered parcels, many of which were gained from education land grants. Although land exchanges have consolidated some tracts, these small parcels are difficult to manage effectively. Proponents of the transfer of federal lands to state control claim that bigger parcels would result in improved land management by state admin- istrators. Jill A. Cooper Further Reading Babbitt, Bruce E. Cities in the Wilderness: A New Visionof Land Use in America. Washington, D.C.: Island Press/Shearwater Books, 2005. 672 • Land management Global Resources Cawley, R. McGreggor. Federal Land, Western Anger: The Sagebrush Rebellion and Environmental Politics. Law- rence: University Press of Kansas, 1993. Dale, Virginia H., and Richard A. Haeuber, eds. Ap- plying Ecological Principles to Land Management. New York: Springer, 2001. Fairfax, Sally K., et al. Buying Nature: The Limits of Land Acquisition as a Conservation Strategy, 1780-2004. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 2005. Francis, John G., and Leslie Pickering Francis. Land Wars: The Politics of PropertyandCommunity. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 2003. Fretwell, Holly Lippke. Who Is Minding the Federal Es- tate? Political Management of America’s Public Lands. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2009. Nelson, Robert H. Public Lands and Private Rights: The Failure of Scientific Management. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1995. Prescott, Samuel T. Federal Land Management: Current Issues and Background. New York: Nova Science, 2003. Randolph, John. Environmental Land Use Planning and Management. Washington,D.C.:Island Press, 2004. Skillen, James. The Nation’s Largest Landlord: The Bu- reau of Land Management in the American West. Law- rence: University Press of Kansas, 2009. Web Site U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Bureau of Land Management http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en.html See also: Bureau of Land Management, U.S.; Depart- ment of the Interior, U.S.; Forest management; Gen- eral Mining Law; Land-use planning; Multiple-use approach; National parks and nature reserves; Public lands; Sagebrush Rebellion. Land-use planning Category: Environment, conservation, and resource management Land-use planning is a management technique used to protect the environment while fostering responsible and compatible economic development. The basic phi - losophy of land-use planning is to mediate and avoid conflicts between land uses and users, avoid hazards, conserve natural resources, and generally protect the environment through the use of sound ecological and economic principles. Background Some form of planning is involved in most decisions about land use, but the term “land-use planning” usually refers to a scale of decision making greater than that of an individual land unit. Land-use planning usually involves governmentat one level or another in the decision-making process and is usually concerned with reconciling the goals and objectives of individuals and groups that may be in conflict concerning pro- spective land uses. The purpose of land-use planning is to make the most sensible, practical, safe, and efficient use of parcels of land. Much of the motivation for land-use planning arises from the current reality that a large and growing population occupies a fixed expanse of real estate and that some land is unstable and unsuitable for certain types of usage. Because land-use decisions are based, in part, on scientific and engineering considerations, land-use planning involves a great deal of interdisciplinary team work. Planners mustweighand consider decisions about the potential economic or practical benefits from a given use of the land and the possible negative environmental or aesthetic impacts. As a result, land-use planning often takes the form of assessing the suitability of a particular parcel of land for a particular purpose and proceeds somewhat like an environmental impact assessment. Conflicting Values and Objectives Land-use planning is conducted to reflect differences in goals between individual land users and the public as a whole or among broad interest groups within the general population. Individual land users may be concerned with selling or utilizing land to maximize its profitability, while government or concerned por- tions of the public may perceive greater utility in re- taining the land as is, or for an alternatepurpose. Sim- ilarly, individual land users may be content to manage their land in a fashion that does not maximize output, while thegovernment may seek tousethelandin such a way as to increase the resource’s output. It is the goal of land-use planning to aid in resolving these conflicting societal values concerning land resources. At one level, land-use planning is concerned with reconciling conflicting objectives. At another level, Global Resources Land-use planning • 673 planning seeks to mediate or adjudicate between the objectives of interest groups and work to establish compromise in goal setting for the management of public lands so as to balance broad policies among land-exploiting sectors of the population. As a result, few environmental topics are as controversial as land- use planning. The controversy involves several factors. First, unlike concerns over environmental pollution, which can be measured, evaluated, and possibly cor- rected, it is difficult to determinethe “best use” of the natural environment as opposed to the “most profitable use.” Second, landowners often fear that planning will take away their right to decide what to do with their property. A frequent problem in land-use planning is that individual judgments about the rela- tive importance or value of different land consider - ations are involved, and these judgments often differ sharply. For example, an old-growthforestmayappeal to a lumber company as a source of valuable timber, whereas campers may prefer it to remain pristine and unlogged. As a result, land-use planning has become an important political and environmental issue. Politics and the Planning Process In the end, sound land-use planning depends on how political power is distributed and exercised. Land-use planning is not value free. Professional planners con- tribute the means of planning, but the ends and objectives are highly subjective and political in nature. They depend on how land is perceived by society, on whether land use should be dictated by market forces and the pursuit of profit by its owner, or whether land should be regarded as a common-property resource like air or water, and on whether land is seen as an in - heritance to which an obligation of stewardship is owed to future generations. 674 • Land-use planning Global Resources IDENTIFY PROBLEMS AND DEFINE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES COLLECT AND INTERPRET DATA FORMULATE PLANS REVIEW AND ADOPT PLANS IMPLEMENT PLANS Evaluate impacts — environmental, social, economic, fiscal Public initiative and response COLLECT DATA Earth science and other information Background studies Existing land use Transportation Economic Political Social Land capability studies FORMULATE PLANS Land use Watershed Natural resources Hazard mitigation Open space Waste management Public facilities IMPLEMENT PLANS Zoning and subdivision regulations Erosion and sedimentation control ordinances Building and housing codes Environmental impact statements Capital improvement programs Health and information codes The Land-Use Planning Process Land-use planners, like land users, often have mul - tiple goals, and the methods and techniques of planning are highly diverse and usually include a variety of steps. In any land-use planning project the first and most essential step is to identify and define issues, goals, and objectives concerning the lands in question. This step is usually accomplished through a com- bination of public input and scientifically based research and assessment. Data on the lands, including a complete inventory of resources and hazards, must be collected, analyzed, and interpreted. A series of land- use alternativescan be developed and tested based on the collected data; the results of this process can be used to formulate a potential land-use plan. After review, the plan can be adopted or revised prior to im- plementation. The key to the entire planning process is to match the natural capability of a land unit to specific potential uses. Randall L. Milstein Further Reading Berke, Philip R.,etal.UrbanLand Use Planning. 5th ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006. Butterfield,Jody,SamBingham,andAllanSavory.Ho- listic Management Handbook: Healthy Land, Healthy Profits. Rev. ed. Washington,D.C.:Island Press, 2006. Dale, Virginia H., and Richard A. Haeuber, eds. Ap- plying Ecological Principles to Land Management. New York: Springer, 2001. Dramstad, Wenche E., James D. Olson, and Richard T. T. Forman. Landscape Ecology Principles in Land- scape Architecture and Land-Use Planning. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Graduate School of De- sign, 1996. Fabos, Julius Gy. Land-Use Planning: From Global to Lo- cal Challenge. New York: Chapman and Hall, 1985. Mannion, A. M. Dynamic World: Land-Cover and Land- Use Change. New York: Arnold/Oxford University Press, 2002. Meyer, William B., and B. L. Turner II, eds. Changes in Land Use and Land Cover: A Global Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Randolph, John. Environmental Land Use Planning and Management. Washington,D.C.:Island Press, 2004. Savory, Allan, and Jody Butterfield. Holistic Manage- ment: A New Framework for Decision Making.2ded. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1999. Steiner, Frederick. The Living Landscape: An Ecological Approach to Landscape Planning. 2d ed. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2008. See also: Bureau of Land Management, U.S.; Land management; Mineral resource ownership; Multiple- use approach; Population growth; Public lands; Soil management. Land-use regulation and control Categories: Government and resources; social, economic, and political issues Government regulation and control of land use repre- sents the point at which land management and land- use planning considerations become official policy that is enforced by law. Such government regulation is fre- quently controversial. Background Land-use regulation and control represent the sets of rules established by governing entities in a particular area that permit or prohibit certain activities on a parcel of land. Numerous activities can have significant impacts on land, so a specific set of guidelines must be in place regarding the land uses that are considered to be of greatest importance. Subdivision controls were originally designed to obtain accurate land rec- ords as land was described, sold, and legally recorded. Later, these controls werebetterdescribedasdevelop- ment controls, because subdivision laws resulted in standards for design and constructionwork. Zoning is the most well-known means of land-use control used by local governing bodies: A geographic area is divided into sectors or zones based on the specific land-use controls established for these areas. The most general land-use classes include agricultural, commercial, industrial, and residential, since these classes occur even in small towns and may occur in larger urban areas. Zoning ordinances contain a map which indi- cates the zones for the regulated areas and a text or narrativewhich explains the legal or allowed activities that may occur in each zone. Types of Regulation and Control Various levels of government use specific types of land-use controls to allow, encourage, discourage, or forbid resource exploitation in given areas. One example is regulations concerning the development of floodplains or other potentially high-risk areas. A floodplain can be an excellent site for development as Global Resources Land-use regulation and control • 675 long as a carefully designed land-use plan incorpo - rates a detailed cost-versus-benefit analysis of the ad- vantages anddisadvantagesofbuildingin this ecologi- cally sensitive zone. Attempts to determine the true cost of developing the floodplain must consider the benefits of floodwater storage, aesthetic beauty, linear parkland, and opportunities for viewing animal or plant communities. Decisions on these kinds of com- plex and controversial development proposals should consider the full range of environmental, social, political, and legal issues that will affect the area. Scenic areas are valuable because of their aesthetic beauty. However, they are also attractive building sites because of that beauty. Government entities have used land-use controls to foster conservation and preservation efforts in areas that are recognized as environmentally significant. Determination of environmental significance may be based on the limited land area of the resource or on the presence of endangered or threatened species within the boundary area. A growing emphasis on ecosystem-level (large-scale) approaches to conservation and management of terrestrial and aquatic areas has caused local governments to reconsider some of the adverse affects of their localized, community- based development plans. Since ecosystems can en - compass a regional area,awiderviewmustbetakenby the regional planning organization to mesh environmental preservation issues with environmental planning goals. Land-use regulation must be based on an understanding of the balance between environmental science and the discipline of urban planning. Land Management and Land-Use Planning The regulation of land use is based on, and linked to, the processes of land management and land-use planning. Land management focuses on the proper maintenance of the land’s condition and quality to maintain the property in the most efficient manner. Management should consider the land as a natural resource to be preserved and maintained as a valuable commodity. Land management can be regulated and controlled by governing entities through the use of subdivision and zoning laws. In rural areas, regional planning organizations can exert a strong influence on major land-management decisions if a proactive view has already focused on mid- to long- term development issues. Regional organizations generally have less policy enforcement strength than the local governing board. A properly conducted management plan comprises a number of steps that focus on the various parts of the selected environment; these must be accurately inventoried before a land-management plan is implemented. Land-use planning focuses on the systematic definition and thought- ful design of the methods to be used to effect the present and future uses of land. The plan must be developed through intensive examination of the site conditions and project alterna- tives that may affectthe implementa- tion of the project. The site conditions inventory must include data collected from the soils, vegetation (plant cover), hydrology, and clima- tic conditions, whichwillbeanalyzed and reported as partof a summary of the plan. In addition, data acquired by remote sensing may be incorpo- rated into the overall plan, because such data is significant on a large scale. 676 • Land-use regulation and control Global Resources Floodplains, like this one off the Nenana River in the Yukon region of Alaska, are exam - ples of areas affected by land-use regulation. (USGS) Trends in Planning and Control Trends in land-use planning and control include increased public and institutional interest and participa- tion, development of new land-use planning tools, and a larger role for environmental considerations. “New” land-use planning tools may be better thought of as creative combinations of older methods to achieve the desired outcome. Environmental and natural resource issues have caused citizens and planning organizations to consider further the benefits of including surround- ing natural habitats as an enhanced part of the overall plan. Land-use regulation has begun to focus more in- tensely on the education of the public, because this is often the group that will make the final decision about whether a plan is accepted or declined. Richard Wayne Griffin Further Reading Arnold, Craig Anthony, ed. Wet Growth: Should Water Law Control Land Use? Washington, D.C.: Environ- mental Law Institute, 2005. Elliott, Donald L. A Better Way to Zone: Ten Principles to Create More Liveable Cities. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2008. Epstein, Richard A. Supreme Neglect: How to Revive Con- stitutional Protection for Private Property. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Hoch, Charles J., Linda C. Dalton, and Frank S. So, eds. The Practice of Local GovernmentPlanning.3d ed. Washington, D.C.: International City/County Man- agement Association in cooperation with the American Planning Association for the ICMA Uni- versity, 2000. Juergensmeyer, Julian Conrad, and Thomas E. Rob- erts. Land Use Planning and Development Regulation Law. 2d ed. St. Paul,Minn.:Thomson/West, 2007. Levy, John M. Contemporary Urban Planning. 8th ed. Up- per SaddleRiver,N.J.:Pearson/PrenticeHall,2009. Nolon, John R., and Dan Rodriguez, eds. Losing Ground: A Nation on Edge. Washington, D.C.: Envi- ronmental Law Institute, 2007. Nolon, John R., and Patricia E. Salkin. Land Use in a Nutshell. 5th ed. St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson/West, 2006. Platt, Rutherford H. Land Use and Society: Geography, Law, and Public Policy. Rev. ed. Washington, D.C.: Is- land Press, 2004. See also: Land management; Land-use planning; Public lands; Rangeland; Sagebrush Rebellion. Landfills Category: Pollution and waste disposal Landfills, repositories for general municipal waste, have the potential for contaminating resources, most notably water resources. Background Landfills are naturally occurring depressions or artifi- cial excavations that serve as repositories for municipal waste orgeneralrefuse. Thewasteisusuallyburied under successive layers ofclayorotherearthmaterials as the debris gradually accumulates. Generally, municipal wastes consist mostlyofpaperproducts (greater than 50 percent), with significant foodstuffs, glass, metals, minor garden and lawn debris, plastics, and wood scrap. Some special facilities are authorized to receive toxic waste such as industrial chemicals and contaminated soil. Carla W. Montgomery, in Environ- mental Geology (2006), states that a municipal sanitary landfill requires a land commitment of 1 hectare per year for each 10,000 people if the facility is filled to a depth of about 7.4 meters. Types and Site Selection There are two types of repositories: area landfills and depression landfills. Area landfills are large open areas generally situated on low-lying, relatively flat ter- rain. Extensive excavation is involved, and the excavation is generally filled in sections. Depression landfills, characterized by individual cells, are usually located in places with irregular topography. The cells are long rectangular cuts that usually range from 100 meters to 150 meters long, up to 50 meters wide, and from 8 to 10 meters deep. The location of a sanitary landfill is usually based on the following criteria. The primary consideration is the presence of a suitable host rock such as shale or marl with a minimum site thickness of 15 meters. If not structurallydisturbed, these argillaceous rocks provide a nearly impervious container for long-term storage of waste material. The facility should also be sited in an area of low to moderate relief where the base of the landfill will be well above the groundwater table during all seasons of the year. The site should be within a moderate haul distance from the communities served and have an all-weather road network available. Geo - logic faults, both small and large, should be avoided. Global Resources Landfills • 677 . given use of the land and the possible negative environmental or aesthetic impacts. As a result, land-use planning often takes the form of assessing the suitability of a particular parcel of land for. deci - sions and practices regarding the uses of land. Land 670 • Land management Global Resources management may emphasize any one of a variety of different land uses. Farmers, for example,. WesleyPowell,anexplorer and member of a commission to study public lands, had proposed Global Resources Land management • 671 The Lost Coast of California is one of the National Conservation Areas