2. Overview of Chapter 17
o Land Use
• World land use
• US land use
o Wilderness Park and Wildlife Refuges
• National Parks
• Wildlife Refuge
o Forests
• Forest management
• Deforestation
o Rangeland and Agricultural Land
o Wetlands and Coastal Areas
o Conservation of Land Resources
5. Local areas
o National Parks
o http://www.nps.gov/applications/parksearc
h/state.cfm?st=PA
National Wildlife Refuge- Erie and Tinicum
(John Heinz, close to Philadelphia)
http://www.fws.gov/heinz/index.html
o Allegheny National Forest – only one in PA
o http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/alleghen
y/
8. Land Use- United States
o 55% of US land is privately owned
o Remainder of land is owned by government
• Most federally owned land is in Alaska and 11
western states
9. Managing Public and Private Land
o Public Planning and Land Use
• Land use decisions are complex and have
multiple effects
• Must take into account all repercussions of
proposed land use
o Management of Federal Land
• Wide-Use Movement
• Environmental Movement
10. Wilderness Areas
o Wilderness
• A protected area of land in which no human
development is permitted
o Wilderness Act (1964)
• Set aside federally owned land as part of
National Wilderness Preservation System
• No development permitted (including roads),
trails left alone, not maintained. Maybe
difficult to visit
o Managed by NPS, USFS, FWS & BLM
11. Wilderness
o Some areas have a limited number of
permitted human guests to reduce impact
o Other problems include invasive species
12. PA Wilderness areas
o http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse
=NWPS&sec=wildView&WID=7
o http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/alleghen
y/recreation/hiking/hickory_creek/
Within Allegheny National Forest
13. National Park System
o Created in 1916
o Currently includes 58
parks (not including other
designations like monument,
historic site etc.)
o Primary goal
• Teach people about the
natural environment,
management of natural
resources and history
of a site
Yosemite National Park
14. National Park System
o Threats to U.S. Parks
• Crime & Vandalism
• Traffic jams
• Pollution of the soil, water and air
• Originating both inside and outside the park
• Resource violations
o Natural Regulation
• Policy to let nature take it course
• No culling wildlife (no hunting)
• No suppressing wildfire
15. Ken Burn’s National Parks
documentary
o Antiquities Act
o http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/watch-
video/#658
o Teddy Roosevelt – A Progressive
Republican of his day
o Park scandal of the day:
http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/watch-
video/#807
16.
17.
18. Wildlife Refuges
o National Wildlife Refuge System (1903)
o Represent all major ecosystems founds in
the US
o Mission
• To preserve lands and waters for the
conservation of fishes, wildlife and plants of
the US
o Recreation (including hunting and fishing)
are permitted
• Cannot impede conservation efforts
19. Forests
o Role in Hydrologic
Cycle (right)
o Forest Management
o Deforestation
o Forest Trends in
the US
o Trends in Tropical
Forests
o Boreal Forests
20. Succession
o How has succession played a role in
Okehocking?
o Describe the historical change in
Okehocking’s land use?
o What stage of succession is Okehocking?
Think of trees that indicate stage.
21. Forest Management
o Traditional Forest
Management
• Low diversity- monocultures
(right)
• Managed for timber production
o Ecological Sustainable Forest
Management
• Environmentally balanced
• Diverse trees
• Prevent soil erosion
• Preserve watersheds
• Wildlife corridors- unlogged
24. Deforestation
o Temporary or permanent clearance of
large expanses of forest for agriculture or
other use
o World forests shrank 90 million acres
from 2000–2005
o Causes
• Fire
• Expansion of agriculture
• Construction of roads
• Tree harvest
• Insect and disease
25. Deforestation
o Results
• Decreased soil fertility
• Uncontrolled soil erosion
• Production of hydroelectric power (silt build up
behind dams)
• Increased sedimentation of waterways
• Formation of deserts
• Extinction of species
• Global climate changes
26. Forest Trends in US
o Most temperature
forest are steady or
expanding
o Returning stands lack
biodiversity of original
forests
o More than half of US
forest are privately
owned (right)
• Forest Legacy Program
• Conservation easement
28. US National Forests
o Managed for multiple uses
• Timber harvest
• Livestock forage
• Water resource and watershed protection
• Mining, hunting, fishing, etc.
o Road building is an issue
• Provides logging companies with access to
forest
o Clearcutting is an issue
30. Case-In-Point Tongass National Park
o One of world’s few
temperate
rainforests
o Prime logging area
o Modified 1997
Forest Plan
o Roadless Area
Conservation Rule
(2000)
o Politics rules
government agencies
31. Trends in Tropical Forests
o Tropical rainforests (below) and tropical
dry forests
32. Disappearing Tropical Rain Forests
o Population growth
• Cannot account for
all of it
o Immediate causes
• Subsistence
agriculture
• Commercial logging
• Cattle ranching
o Other causes
• Mining
• Hydroelectric power
34. Boreal Forests
o World’s largest biome
o Extensive clearcutting
• Primary source of world’s industrial wood and
wood fiber
35. Rangeland and Agricultural lands
o Rangeland
• Land that is not intensively managed and is used for
grazing livestock
36. Rangeland Degradation and
Deforestation
o Overgrazing leaves ground barren
• Animals exceed their carrying capacity
o Land degradation
• Natural or human-induced process that
decreases future ability of land to support
crops or livestock
o Desertification
• Degradation of once fertile land into
nonproductive desert
37. Rangeland Trends in US
o Make up 30% of total US land area
• 2/3 privately owned
o Pressure from developers to subdivide
o Public rangeland managed by:
• Taylor Grazing Act (1934)
• Federal Land Policy and Management Act
(1976)
o Conditions of public rangeland are slowly
improving
• Grazing fees is an issue
38. Agricultural Land
o US has 300 million acres of prime
farmland
o Much is being
overtaken by
suburban sprawl
• Parking lots
• Housing
developments
• Shopping malls
39. Wetlands
o Lands that are usually covered with water
for at least part of the year
o Have characteristic soils and water-
tolerant vegetation
o Benefits
• Habitat for migratory waterfowl and wildlife
• Recharge groundwater
• Reduce damage from flooding
• Improve water quality
• Produce many commercially important products
40. Hurricane Sandy Impact
o Influence of wetlands
http://articles.philly.com/2013-10-
29/news/43497891_1_wetlands-loss-
barnegat-bay-hurricane-sandy
o Influence of oysters
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/20
12/12/oysters-eyed-as-help-for-new-york-
harbor/
41. Wetlands
o Human activity that threatens wetlands
• Drainage for agriculture or mosquito control
• Dredging for navigation
• Construction of dams, dykes or seawalls
• Filling in for solid waste disposal
• Road building
• Mining for gravel, fossil fuels, etc.
o Shrinking 58,500 acres per year
42. Restoring Wetlands
o No Net Loss of
Wetlands:
o Development of wetlands
is allowed if
corresponding amount of
previously converted
wetland is restored
o Not all wetland
restorations are
successful
43. Coastlines
o Coastal wetlands
• Provide food and habitat for many aquatic
animals
• Historically regarded as wasteland
o US starting to see
importance of
protecting this
environment
• Retaining seawalls
(right)
44. Coastal Demographics
o Many coastal areas overdeveloped
• 3.8 billion people live within 150km of coastline
• 6.4 billion people will likely live there by 2025
o United States
• 14 of 20 largest US cities along coast
• 19 of 20 most densely populated countries along coasts
45. Conservation and Land Resources
o All types of ecosystems must be preserved
o Four criteria of importance:
• Areas lost or degraded since European
colonization
• Number of present examples of a particular
ecosystem (or the total area)
• Estimate of the likelihood that a given
ecosystem will lost a significant area or be
degraded in next 10 years
• Number of threatened and endangered species
living in the ecosystem
