NEC1001: Land Use Management
Statement of Issues and Justification
Government decision-making on the best uses of land resources often falls to local officials inadequately prepared with the factual information and analytical tools needed to understand the anticipated consequences of the various options available. A regionally coordinated public resource for informed land use decision making is needed for the Northeast region.
The dimensions of land use options commonly span political boundaries. To illustrate this point, consider the regions's watersheds, water bodies and coastal areas that are impacted by many governmental levels (municipal, county, state and federal jurisdictions), which have overlaying authorities. Moreover, contiguous geographic areas complicate land use decision-making when the consequences of land use choices in one govermental domain overflow into other landscapes. In a corresponding way the interfaces of urban, surburban, and rural communities often have contradictory land use priorities. Government officials are, as a consequence, confronted with difficult choices, many of which carry complex environmental, economic, and social consequences.
Decision-makers often have many options available to avoid, restore or mitigate the consequences of land use patterns. In addition to legal remedies and restrictions, government-based programs for land use set-asides, easements, offsets, incentives, and trusts have been employed to varying degrees of success. Much more study is needed to better understand the full consequences of land use management options.
The NE region currently has 35 Hatch Projects in 8 stations (51 PIs) that address one or more aspects of land use management research. Land use impact studies are assessing the environmental quality of land use management methods; determining ecologial status of managed systems; assessing economic consequences of land use strategies; and evaluating the social impacts of land use choices. physical and biological indicators of land use impacts include soil quality and retention; C, N and P cycling; pollutant loads; and wildlife (bird and fish populations) dynamics.
Some of the land use management tools that are being developed by these 35 independent Hatch projects include:
- Case studies and surveys
- Geo-spatial technologies (i.e., remote sensing, geographics information systems)
- Analytical methods (e.g., valuation, contingent choice, hedonic analysis,
discounted cash flows);
- Modeling and simulations
- Impact prediction and forecasting; and
- Expert systems, artifical intelligence, and decision support systems
A unique opportunity exists to regionally organize existing land use research activities into a coordinated effort. We are proposing to create a Regional Coordinating Committee on land use management to focus our currently divergent research activities on a set of common objectives, to share our institutional resources for common benefits, and to permit greater functional integration with the region's capacity in Cooperative Extension.
Back to Top