As mentioned in the material, land use raises lots of passion. If you’ve followed the news over the past few years you’ll know that public lands have become
highly politicized with some factions demanding local control over federal public lands and, often, denying the constitutionality of federal land ownership.
This is happening in the west particularly. The Previous Administration attempted to return public land to local control, scale back the size of public lands,
and open some public lands, including parks and national monuments, to oil, gas, and mineral extraction. Needless to say, it created a great deal of
opposition. The current Adminisration is restroing some protections.
Here are two opposing positions.
1. More land should be preserved (i.e, parks and wilderness) and the limitations on use of existing lands ought to be tightened.
2. Public Lands need to be opened up for economic use as unemployment is high and economic growth is stalled. Public lands should be returned to local
control.
Where do you fall…. You may take one or the other position or you may evolve some other approach that addresses the issue. What you HAVE to do is
construct a sound argument for your position, support it with evidence, and draw convincing conclusions.Try to include contemporary events in your
response. Be thorough, but don’t write a book… 500 words ought to do it. Be sure to convince me you read the material. YOU MUST CITE CHAPTER 9
THROUGHOUT YOUR ESSAY FOR CREDIT!!