Public Land Use Research Articles

Lands, Laws, and Gods: Magistrates and Ceremony in the Regulation of Public Lands in Republican Rome.

In Lands, Laws, and Gods, Daniel Gargola examines the formulation and implementation of laws regulating the use of public lands, including the establishment of colonies, in Republican Rome (509-27 B.C.). During this period of territorial expansion, the Romans developed the basic legal forms by which they governed captured land, and they constructed the processes and ceremonies by which those forms were translated into practice. Using agrarian law as a case study and focusing especially on rituals that both validated and gave structure to the administrative process, Gargola demonstrates the fundamental connections between religion, law, and government. Essential acts in the administration of agrarian legislation, such as the transfer of land from one party to another and the granting of contracts for public works, depended upon ritual formulas and gestures, often within the context of religious ceremonies. By recovering these formulas and their larger significance, Gargola reconstructs an important dimension of Roman life.Originally published in 1995.A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

Commingled grazing as a risk factor for trichomonosis in beef herds

Objective To evaluate commingled grazing on public lands as a risk factor for Tritrichomonas foetus infection in beef herd bulls. Design Case-control study. Sample Population Based on 1994 data from the mandatory ldaho bull testing program, all 65 infected herds (case herds), 78 randomly selected test-negative herds that tested < 10 nonvirgin bulls, and 81 randomly selected test-negative herds that tested > 10 nonvirgin bulls (control herds). Procedure Managers of government-owned grazing lands in Idaho identified producers who had grazing permits for an allotment under their jurisdiction in 1993 and for that allotment recorded the number of animals the producer was permitted to graze on the allotment, the number of herds with grazing permits, the total number of animals permitted, and the dates on which grazing began and ended. The number of bulls tested, number of times tested, and test results were collated from the testing database. Results The relative sensitivity of bacterial culture of preputial smegma was 81%. The attributable fraction of T foetus infection associated with commingled grazing was 33%, and the odds ratio of infection was 9.0 for herds commingled with ≥ 14 other herds. The total number of animals permitted on an allotment, the use of public lands, and type of public lands used were not significantly associated with infection status. Clinical Implications These results suggest that to control the spread of trichomonosis, the number of herds commingling on a grazing allotment should be minimized and commingled herds should be managed collectively. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 1996;209:643-646)

SOUND POLICY OR SMOKE AND MIRRORS: DOES ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT MAKE SENSE?1

ABSTRACT: Protection of ecosystems as entities on the landscape has attracted a wide range of support. Ecosystem‐based public policies are claimed to be more effective, efficient, and scientifically sound than other approaches to environmental and natural resource policy. The ecosystem concept was never intended to serve as a public policy guide or to determine landscape units for land management purposes. This paper critically examines the use of the ecosystem concept in public policy and land use management and analyzes the proposed rule to manage the National Forest System according to ecosystem management principles. The concept is found to be unsuitable as a basis for guiding environmental and natural resource public policies in general while the proposed rule to manage the national forests according to ecosystem management principles is shown to be incoherent.

Urban Policy, Local Administration and Land Use Planning in Lille

Urban policy initiatives are a characteristic of most European countries. These initiatives have developed within the context of existing legislative frameworks, particularly relating to public administration and land use. The Contrat de Ville, recently introduced as a mechanism for urban policy coordination and im plementation, has developed within an administrative structure based on 36,000 communes, Schémas Dir ecteur and Plans d'Occupation des Sols. This article outlines the development of urban policy and de scribes the existing structures before questioning the constraints which these may pose for urban policy development. Using the case of the Contrat de Ville for Lille, it then assesses how far these structures have constrained the development of the Contrat.

Provision of urban public facilities through the development of public commercial land in Iran

In the context of rapid urban growth and expansion, the provision of key infrastructure elements and public facilities has been a major concern in Iran. The post-revolutionary urban land policies provided a large amount of public land in which distribution of commercial land was one of the problematic issues. In 1986, a new instrumentality was initiated towards efficient use of public commercial land. This paper aims to provide a picture of the policy and to illustrate and assess its outcomes. Using the economic potential of public commercial land, monetary contributions were made towards the provision of public facilities such as schools and clinics in new settlements.

Family Ranching and Farming: A Consensus Management Model to Improve Family Functioning and Decrease Work Stress

Few businesses have as much family involvement in day-to-day operation as intergenerational ranching and farming. Working side by side, family members have opportunities for shared dreams, satisfying communication, and intimacy. At same time, working side by side presents challenges of high intrafamilial stress, strain, and conflict, especially when family lacks skills in communication, problem solving, goal setting, conflict resolution, and strategic planning. The internal stress ranch families experience as a result of working together has contributed to a decline in number of families staying together on ranch (Rosenblatt, deMik, Anderson, & Johnson, 1985; Ward, 1987; Wilson, Marotz-Baden, & Holloway, 1991). Family ranching is a business under siege. Since 1989, ranchers have come under increasing scrutiny by U.S. House of Representatives, which has included raising grazing fees on public lands four times in appropriation bills (Grazing fees, 1993). Recent U.S. Senate debate and public hearings in western states regarding whether to double or triple per-unit grazing fees have focused attention on ranchers and their use of public lands (Grazing reform, 1993). Recent national television coverage by both Audubon Society and CBS has publicized question of whether ranchers' use of public lands is in best public interest, given growing environmental concerns. CBS characterized problem as the new range wars (Rather, 1993). These external threats could soon squeeze a number of ranch families out of business (Lewis, Volk, & Duncan, 1989). The purpose of this pilot study was to test hypothesis that ranch family members who communicate openly with one another to establish a shared vision and strategic plan can increase positive family functioning and decrease work stress. As a united system, perhaps family members can more effectively fend off internal and external threats to family ranching business. Rural ranch families who both want to face external threats that contribute to their reported feelings of being under siege and to take appropriate proactive steps to transfer labor, management, and land amicably to next generation face a double problem. First, it is difficult for families to work together day after day without either encountering high levels of stress and strain or denying personal needs and wants (Freudenberger, Freedheim, & Kurtz, 1989; Jurich & Russell, 1987; Marotz-Baden, 1988; Rosenblatt & Albert, 1990; Wilson et al., 1991). Second, family life educators and Cooperative Extension specialists may lack experience working collaboratively with marriage and family therapists one-on-one with rural families to help families rebuild trust and cohesion. This article brings together therapy and education and creates a rural family Consensus Management Model that increases positive family functioning and capitalizes on ranch families' natural inclination toward self-sufficiency. It also enables them to create a structure and a process for successful and amiable labor, management, and land transfer across generations. Not all families are likely to be good candidates for intervention. Families that are likely to benefit most from Consensus Management Model are similar to those that would benefit most from traditional therapy (Fisch, Weakland, & Segal, 1982), that is, those that are hurting, have insight that their coping strategies are inadequate, or are in crisis from high stress of interpersonal communication problems and fear of losing their ranch or farm as a result. These families tend to be more willing to invest time and resources into some form of therapy or consulting. They tend to realize urgency of seeking new alternatives to family and business problem solving. They recognize that continuing use their old coping strategies to solve problems is inadequate to prevent depressive feelings, worry, tension, stress, angry outbursts, fighting, and possible loss of family farm or ranch. …

Federal land, western anger: the Sagebrush Rebellion and environmental politics

In 1979 the Nevada state legislature passed a bill providing for state control of certain lands within the state boundaries under the administration of the Bureau of Land Management. Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming immediately followed suit. Public land users reacted swiftly and the Sagebrush Rebellion was on. Westerners, driven by the sheer size of the federal estate (99 percent of BLM lands are located in twelve western states) and angered by what they perceived as undue influence by the environmental movement on federal policies, sought to protect and control the resource and recreational use of public lands that they deemed essential to their state economies. In this book, R. McGreggor Cawley objectively investigates the Rebellion, looking at the driving force behind the movement, the strategies used by the Rebels, and the consequences of the controversy. He examines how the definitions of key federal land management concepts, such as conservation, influenced policymaking and explores tensions that pitted the West against other regions and the federal government. In the process, he analyzes James Watt's beleaguered tenure as secretary of the interior and the Reagan administration's proposal to sell federal lands and shows how the conflict created an unexpected division within the environmental movement. Going beyond the Rebellion, Cawley offers provocative interpretation of events in federal land policy from the 1960s to the 1990s and establishes a framework for assessing future developments in federal land policy.

The rock, the beach, and the tidal pool: People and poverty in natural resource‐dependent areas

Abstract Explaining why poverty exists in natural resource‐dependent areas (NRDAs) presents a formidable challenge, given variability in the nature, spatial manifestations, and social character of human well‐being. Nonetheless, there are structures and processes unique to NRDAs, including resource degradation, increasingly restrictive public land use policies, concentrated land ownership, and high rates of occupational injury that create the potential for impoverization in NRDAs. Given this complex context, we examine two theories of poverty. We find processes such as the shift from labor to capital‐intensive resource extraction, profit squeezes, and increased capital mobility identified in advanced capitalism theory help to explain NRDA poverty. In addition, processes identified in the theory of internal colonialism such as unequal exchange, the clash between traditional and secular cultures, and the control of public agencies by powerful private interests are more basic forces in creating NRDA poverty.

The unrecognized threat to tourism: Can tourism survive ‘sustainability’?

Sustaining the resource base on which tourism depends must be the central focus of any discussion surrounding sustainable tourism development. To date, this debate has focused narrowly on controlling the adverse impacts of tourism development itself. Yet, the applications of the conflicting interpretations of sustainable development and ecologically sustainable development may pose an even greater threat to the future of tourism, especially outside urban areas. Two specific sources of external threat are discussed in this paper: (1) economically sustainable development being used by other commercial interests as a tool to justify the introduction of incompatible urban/ industrial activities into tourism areas that cause the degradation of the tourism resource base, and (2) ecologically sustainable development being used as a means of justifying the implementation of pernicious public land management policies that effectively restrict tourism access to and use of public lands. The paper argues that the sustainable tourism debate must be broadened to recognize the role that non-tourism entities play in determining the future of sustainable tourism development.

Too many users: the tragedy of the commons in rural roadsides: M.A. Cooper, in: Nature conservation 2: the role of corridors, ed D.A. Saunders & R.J. Hobbs, (Surrey Beatty), 1991, pp 363–369

The tragedy of the commons is focused on the notion that the uncoordinated use of public lands, which are free and readily available, will result in these lands becoming degraded and of no use to anyone. Rural roadsides, being free public lands, readily available and lacking comprehensive management, are prime targets for the development of the tragedy of the commons. To avert this tragedy, local councils and road authorities who have jurisdiction over rural road reserves need to take responsibility for non-transportational activities, as well as continue to be concerned with transportational activities. In taking responsibility for non-transportational activities, these authorities will need to implement new management practices. For the covering entry of the conference, see IRRD abstract no. 843352.

Quantitative assessment of future development of cooper/silver resources in the Kootenai National Forest, Idaho/Montana: Part I—Estimation of the copper and silver endowments

Faced with an ever-increasing diversity of demand for the use of public lands, managers and planners are turning more often to a multiple-use approach to meet those demands. This approach requires the uses to be mutually compatible and to utilize the more valuable attributes or resource values of the land. Therefore, it is imperative that planners be provided with all available information on attribute and resource values in a timely fashion and in a format that facilitates a comparative evaluation.

Site Value Taxation in a Declining City

Abstract. The relationship is analyzed between the economic decline of a central city and the likelihood that a site value tax will be politically acceptable. Public choice and land use models are combined to generate a scenario of land use changes and changes in improvements to land ratios which determine whether a specific property owner will gain or lose from a revenue‐neutral site value tax. A case study is presented which substantiates many of the effects suggested by the model. In general, private and public sector responses to a city's decline result in an atmosphere that is relatively hostile to site value taxation.

Private Land Use Controls: What is the Public Interest?

Abstract In the 1920s, zoning was promoted as a superior form of land use control. Private controls were expected to expire over time, but developers continued to use private controls in exclusive developments. After World War II, private land use controls began to be democratized as townhouses and condominiums were built for low- and moderate-income families. This trend continues today with the market conditions in many areas mandating the construction of developments governed by a Residential Community Association (RCA). RCAs1 now have a long history with increasing implications for public land use controls.

Residential land use policy and condominium housing development: The Singapore experience

The success of Singapore's public housing land use policy has been well documented, but little is known of Singapore's land use policy regarding private housing. In the 1970s government concern over urban sprawl and the shortage of private housing led to the adoption of the condominium concept as a planning device for private housing development. This article assesses the extent to which the objectives of this policy have been fulfilled by an analysis of the development of condominiums and their effect on the property market.

The role of expectations and promises in land use decisionmaking

Land use disputes are often at their center disagreements about the expectations of different parties, public and private, concerning permissible land uses and activities. Expectations are influenced by numerous factors, from broad economic and social trends to specific public planning policies and decisions. One source of land use expectations are promises issued by public planning and decisionmaking bodies. Two types of promises arise: explicit promises (e.g. statements of intention found in an officially-adopted comprehensive plan, publicly issued resolutions, etc.) and tacit promises (e.g. created by a series or pattern of public decisions, or by the clear unwillingness of the public to take actions in the past where opportunities existed to do so). It is argued that public officials and planners should be concerned with promises and that they should be given some degree of moral consideration when debating and resolving land use conflicts. Other things being equal, public planning agencies and decisionmaking bodies ought to acknowledge that the expectations of individuals are influenced by such promises and seek to respect them. Private land use expectations based on public promises are not sacred, however, as many situations arise where land use officials are confronted with conflicting moral demands. Situations where public land use promises may need to be overruled or qualified are considered. At a minimum, public land use officials have an obligation to clarify expressions of land use policy so that the formation of false private land use expectations is minimized.

Contractual stipulations, resource use, and interest groups: Implications from federal grazing contracts

The process of determining grazing fee levels for use of public lands has been highly controversial. Moreover, it has often been asserted that increases in grazing fees on federal lands will have no effect on stocking. Yet, environmental groups have advocated higher fees. In this paper we show that stocking does respond to changes in the grazing fee and the debate between environmental groups and livestock owners is not simply a question of distributional equity. Fees affect resource allocation and have become a focal point for both interest groups. The importance of the contractual stipulations between ranchers and the federal government to that outcome is demonstrated.

A tale of two cities: Public land ownership in Canberra and Stockholm to the early 1980s

Public ownership and development of land is a powerful means of controlling the development of an urban area, avoiding high speculative costs of land for housing and public purposes, and siphoning increases in land values that accompany urban growth into the public purse. In Stockholm and Canberra, the balance between these three objectives in the use of public land has differed over time. Control of development has become dominant in Canberra while financial objectives have continued to be important in Stockholm. Whereas public ownership and leasehold tenure of developed land have been used by Stockholm city council as a means of maintaining a public role in the land market following urban development, the Federal Government in Canberra have done this to a much smaller extent. The city of Stockholm has been an active ground landlord; the government in Canberra has been almost completely passive, using lease conditions solely as a means of controlling land use. The paper explores historical reasons for the difference between the two cities. Importantly, both the initiative and financial responsibility were taken locally in Stockholm but by the national government in relation to its national capital, Canberra.

Introducing the geosocial context of nuclear decommissioning: Policy implications in the U.S. and Great Britain

Decommissioning is the inevitable final phase in the life of a nuclear power plant. Research and development to date have been largely technical in nature, despite the substantial past importance of geosocial issues such as emergency preparedness and transboundary pollution. Thus far public inputs have been minor and without measurable effect. Public recognition and the potential for public impact on decommissioning policy is increasing in both countries, although government agencies and utilities are taking little account of it. This article uses experience in the U.S. and Great Britain to address the question of what the geosocial context of nuclear decommissioning is, and how this context will affect nuclear policy. The discussion focuses on four themes: the geosocial ‘signature’ of decommissioning, the emerging interest in decommissioning, decommissioning as the next nuclear leap of faith, and decommissioning as the next focus of nuclear power policy. It is recommended that five areas of public involvement need careful attention: public perceptions, socioeconomic impacts, land use, waste disposal, and economics.

California development agreements and British planning agreements: the struggle of the public land use planner

California development agreements and British planning agreements: the struggle of the public land use planner

仙台南部の都市化に伴う土地利用秩序の変容過程

Progress of housing development in urban fringes has brought the large-scale transformation of land use ordination in the recent decades. The purpose of this study is to understand the historically constructed structure of land use ordination and its transformation process. In particular, theinfluences of land use control technique (zoning procedure) and natural conditions on land use changes are taken into consideration. Southern Sendai area including parts of Sendai-shi (Prefectural Capital) and Natori-shi is selected as a caseto study. The zoning of this area includes the urbanization promotion area the agricultural promotion area (the exclusive agricultural zone and the agricultural district zone), the provisional rezoning area, and the unzoning area. The map of natural land units indicated by landforms and soils presents different natural conditions which have historically determined the land use ordination of this area. Recent trends in land use changes are evaluated in terms of land suitability presented by natural conditions. Followings are the significant problems in this area; 1) the expansion of housing development on unsuitable site, 2) the concentration of commercial and industrial land use on unsuitable wet lands where paddy fields have been historically developed. and 3) increasing of public land use in the urbanization control area. In every zone, the relationship between zoning procedure and natural conditions is examined. As a result, it is concluded that the natural conditions have not sufficiently taken into consideration in zoning procedure. For the presentation of optimal land use zoning in the planning process, each zone should be drawn based on both social and natural conditions.