Abstract: Increasing scarcity of basic commodities; a rapid shift of the urbanized demographic center of the nation to the west and south; and a growing appreciation of environmental values have increased pressures for the use of the federal lands for such competing purposes as energy production, urban growth, recreation, wildlife management, and wilderness preservation — as well as for the traditional uses. Philosophical and political debates between "environmental protection" and "resource development" usually ignore the central issue: that man's survival does not depend on one or another — it depends on both. Issues in federal land politics will be: 1) the size and shape of the federal budget; 2) relationships among federal, state, and local governments; 3) protection and preservation of the natural environment; 4) improvement of the decision-making and conflict resolution processes and; 5) implementation of the Alaska land tenure adjustment program. Successful balancing of different uses of the federal lands involves implementation of the land-use planning and decision-making processes of the National Forest Management Act of 1976 and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as well as reducing recent polarization of the debate. Federal land issues are a complex web, but using the policies and processes of existing laws can help achieve a broadly balanced program.
Publication Year: 2019
Publication Date: 2019-06-26
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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