Land Use

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Land use

Land is any part of the earth's surface that can be owned as property. Land comprises a particular segment of the earth's crust and can be defined in specific terms. The location of the land is extremely important in determining land use and land value.

Land is limited in supply, and, as our population increases, we have less land to support each person. Land nurtures the plants and animals that provide our food and shelter. It is the watershed or reservoir for our water supply. Land provides the minerals we utilize, the space on which we build our homes, and the site of many recreational activities. Land is also the depository for much of the waste created by modern society. The growth of human population only provides a partial explanation for the increased pressure on land resources. Economic development and a rise in the standard of living have brought about more demands for the products of the land. This demand now threatens to erode the land resource.

We are terrestrial in our activities and as our needs have diversified, so has land use. Conflicts among the competing land uses have created the need for land-use planning. Previous generations have used and misused the land as though the supply was inexhaustible. Today, goals and decisions about land use must take into account and link information from the physical and biological sciences with the current social values and political realities.

Land characteristics and ownership provide a basis for the many uses of land. Some land uses are classified as irreversible, for example, when the application of a particular land use changes the original character of the land to such a extent that reversal to its former use is impracticable. Reversible land uses do not change the soil cover or land-form, and the land manager has many options when overseeing reversible land uses.

A framework for land-use planning requires the recognition that plans, policies, and programs must consider physical and biological, economical, and institutional factors. The physical framework of land focuses on the inanimate resources of soil, rocks and geological features, water, air, sunlight, and climate . The biological framework involves living things such as plants and animals. A key feature of the physical and biological framework is the need to maintain healthy ecological relationships. The land can support many human activities, but there are limits. Once the resources are brought to these limits, they can be destroyed and replacing them will be difficult.

The economic framework for land use requires that operators of land be provided sufficient returns to cover the cost of production. Surpluses of returns above costs must be realized by those who make the production decisions and by those who bear the production costs. The economic framework provides the incentive to use the land in a way that is economically feasible. The institutional framework requires that programs and plans be acceptable within the working rules of society. Plans must also have the support of current governments. A basic concept of land use is the right of land —who has the right to decide the use of a given tract of land. Legal decisions have provided the framework for land resource protection.

Attitudes play an important role in influencing land use decisions, and changes in attitudes will often bring changes in our institutional framework. Recent trends in land use in the United States show that substantial areas have shifted to urban and transportation uses, state and national parks, and wildlife refuges since 1950. The use of land has become one of our most serious environmental concerns. Today's land use decisions will determine the quality of our future life styles and environment . The land use planning process is one of the most complex and least understood domestic concerns facing the nation. Additional changes in the institutional framework governing land use are necessary to allow society to protect the most limited resource on the planet—the land we live on.

[Terence H. Cooper ]