Bringing together a team of national experts, this volume offers a detailed look at the links between public land acquisition programs and efforts to yield smart growth outcomes in the USA. Both public land acquisition programs and state and local growth management efforts have been examined in detail, but while there is growing recognition that land acquisition can play an important role in smart growth outcomes, there has so far been little research into the nexus of these areas of public policy. This book investigates various aspects of the land acquisition-smart growth linkage and describes model programs and makes recommendations for the adoption of land acquisition efforts nationally and internationally. It will appeal to practising planners, policy makers, public officials, and citizen groups, as well as academics of urban planning, environmental studies, geography and other disciplines which examine issues of urban sprawl.

Bringing together a team of national experts, this volume offers a detailed look at the links between public land acquisition programs and efforts to yield smart growth outcomes in the USA. It highlights the opportunities for linking land acquisition programs to broader smart growth planning goals, while also discussing the difficulties and limitations to doing so.

Despite its historical significance and its state-mandated comprehensive planning approach, the Florida growth management experiment has received only piecemeal attention from researchers. Drawing together contributions from national experts on land use planning and growth management, this volume assesses the outcomes of Florida‘s approach for managing growth. As Florida‘s approach is the most detailed system for managing growth in the United States, this book will be of great value to planners. The strengths and weaknesses of the state‘s approach are identified, providing insights into how to manage land use change in a state continuously inundated by growth. In evaluating the successes and failures of the Florida approach, planners and policy makers will gain insights into how to successfully implement growth management policies at both the state and local level.

In 1997, New York City adopted a mammoth watershed agreement to protect its drinking water and avoid filtration of its large upstate surface water supply. Shortly thereafter, the NRC began an analysis of the agreement's scientific validity. The resulting book finds New York City's watershed agreement to be a good template for proactive watershed management that, if properly implemented, will maintain high water quality. However, it cautions that the agreement is not a guarantee of permanent filtration avoidance because of changing regulations, uncertainties regarding pollution sources, advances in treatment technologies, and natural variations in watershed conditions. The book recommends that New York City place its highest priority on pathogenic microorganisms in the watershed and direct its resources toward improving methods for detecting pathogens, understanding pathogen transport and fate, and demonstrating that best management practices will remove pathogens. Other recommendations, which are broadly applicable to surface water supplies across the country, target buffer zones, stormwater management, water quality monitoring, and effluent trading.

Between 1994 and 2008, voters approved almost $32 billion for local land conservation. However, there was at that time no resource available to guide officials as they implemented the voters’ mandates. The Conservation Program Handbook was written in response to numerous requests to The Trust for Public Land for guidance from community leaders who wanted to know how to effectively conserve their iconic landscapes. The Conservation Program Handbook is a manual that provides all of the information—on a broad spectrum of topics—that conservation professionals are likely to require. It compiles and distills advice from professionals involved in successful conservation efforts across the country, including a list of “best practices” for the most critical issues conservationists can expect to face.

The federal government owns 655 million acres (29%) of the nearly 2.3 billion acres of land in the United States. Four agencies administer 628 million acres (96%) of this land: the Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture, The Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service, all in the Department of the Interior. The majority of these lands are in the West. They generate revenues for the US Treasury, some of which are shared with states and localities. These agencies receive funding from annual appropriations laws, and from trust funds and special accounts (including the Land and Water Conservation Fund). The lands administered by the four agencies are managed for a variety of purposes, primarily related to conservation, preservation, and development of natural resources. Yet, each of these agencies has distinct responsibilities for the lands and resource it administers. This new book provides an overview of how federal lands and resources are managed, the agencies that manage the lands, the authorities under which these lands are managed, and some of the issues associated with federal land management. The book is divided into nine chapters. In the conclusion of the book, is an appendix of acronyms used in the text, and another defining selected terms used in the report.