Incorporating Land Use Planning into Your Environmental Science Curriculum

Abstract

H OW MANY SCHOOLS teach land use planning? Few? How many people are affected by land use decisions in their own communities? Most? I feel increased emphasis on land use planning is necessary in our curricula. Human population increases have strained all our resources including space. Zoning, land use, and master plan decisions have become heated issues on national, state, local, and even individual levels. Should we as educators be more concerned with better preparing our students for the decisions they will surely encounter as adults and property owners? Consider the land owner at Lake Tahoe who owns a parcel of land which he is prohibited from developing, but is required to pay taxes on. What do you suppose his land was valued at before the building restriction? How active do you suppose the resale market is? On the other side of the fence, consider all the thousands of people who enjoy Lake Tahoe as a natural wonder. Can we afford to mar the beauty of Lake Tahoe with increased algae, increased traffic, and all the other problems that come from increased development? Land use decisions such as the Lake Tahoe example exist all over the world, some of smaller and some of larger magnitude. When a community decides to reroute the freeway around town, where is the best