Meghan Brockmeyer

Mr. Kemp

AP Environmental Science, A1

1/19/09

Objective Question 1

The American interior is managed and constituted through a variety of public

lands, and has set aside large of 42%of land for public use, enjoyment, and wildlife.

Public lands are used in a variety of ways. Two public lands are designated as “multiple-

use” lands, the National Forest System and National Resource Lands. National Forest

System (NFS) land constitutes 256 forests and 20 grasslands and is managed by the U.S.

Forest Service. This land is supposed to be managed using the two principles of

“sustainable yield” and “multiple use.” The principle of sustainable use states that

potentially renewable resources should not be harvested or used faster than they are

replenished. The concept of multiple use states that the same land should be managed

simultaneously for a variety of uses. Both of these principles allow for extraction of the

land, but it emphasizes that the land be used for a variety of practices such as sustainable

timber harvesting, grazing recreation, and wildlife conservation. Natural Resource Lands

are managed by the BLM under the multiple use principle. The use of these lands is

allocated under a permit system, so that preservation is instilled and only strategic

resources are used.

The next category of public land use is the “moderately restricted” land, which is

where National Wildlife Refuges is found. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manage

these lands and about 24% of this land is designated as wilderness. Most of this land is
dedicated to protecting habitats and breeding areas, and many assist with protecting

endangered species. However, sport hunting, trapping, oil and gas development, mining,

logging, grazing, and some farming activities are permitted as long as the Department of

the Interior finds such uses compatible with the purpose of each unit.

The last category of public land use is “restricted use” lands. This includes the

National Park System and the National Wilderness Preservation System. The National

Park System is made up of 375 units, separated into 54 major parks and 321 national

recreation areas, monuments, memorials, battlefields, historic sites, parkways, trails,

rivers, seashores, and lakeshores. It is managed by the National Park System and strives

to preserve “scenic and unique natural landscapes” while protecting wildlife habitats and

wilderness areas. National parks may be used only for camping, hiking, sport fishing, and

boating. Oil and gas drilling as well as mining and hunting is allowed in National

Recreation areas only. This land is so concerned with preserving the environment that

49% is designated as wilderness. The National Wilderness Preservation System lies

within the national parks, national wildlife refuges, and national forests and is managed

by the National Park Service, Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and the BLM.

These are the 630 road-less areas that are open only for certain recreational activities and

logging, livestock grazing, mining, and commercial activities are absolutely banned. This

is the most extreme conserving land use in the United States.

The Wise-Use Movement, which is basically an anti-environmental movement

favoring and fueling commercial use and extraction of the environment, proposed an idea

called "takings," which is a requirement that the government cannot take privately owned

land for public use without compensating the owner for the value of the land. Under
“takings” land that the government would like to protect or turn into public land must be

expensively purchased from the owner for fair compensation of “taking” the land. It

corresponds with the Wise-Use Ideal that recognize private property rights that do not

entail fees and make resource-rich public lands available for private enterprise. This

entire concept degrades all preservation principles constituted in U.S. public lands and

attempts to do away with all U.S. public lands in general, if not abusing and extracting

every possible acre of non-developed land.