Open Space Lands Preservation Techniques

Author : Kristen Loughery
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780549756910
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (569 download)

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Download or read book Explaining the Occurrence of Public and Private Land Preservation Policies written by Kristen Loughery and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Open space land loss is a significant issue in areas of the United States and is associated with many economic problems. The loss of land, as well as the methods for preservation, are creating externalities and efficiency losses. There are various techniques in place for preserving the land, such as open space referenda, downzoning, agricultural zoning, and land trusts. The purpose of this paper is to determine how public and private land preservation techniques differ across counties. The models expand upon a study by Kline (2006) on open space referenda. Kline's (2006) variables as well as new variables are used to explain the occurrence of referenda and other land preservation techniques. It is hypothesized that land preservation techniques will generally occur in areas with diminishing natural land and farmland, resulting from changes in population, education, federal land, state land preservation, and other factors. The data used in this study came partly from published material and data collected from the Internet on all counties in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York. For the other information, relevant public officials and land trusts were contacted by telephone and email. The results show that population, education, federal land, farmland, and state preserved land density play major roles in explaining where different land preservation techniques occur. As the state preserves more land, referenda and agricultural zoning are more likely to occur. As the population increases and education decreases, it is more likely to find zoning and referenda methods than land trust activity. This suggests that public and private land preservation act as substitutes. When a larger proportion of the county are not educated with a college degree, it is found that governments control the majority of the land preservation and land trusts are less active. The findings of this paper can show policy makers what is driving the land preservation existing in the county. They can also project how the land preservation methods may change as the county characteristics change. This research may lead to the measurement of welfare and public preferences for the specific techniques in order to improve the effectiveness of each process. By providing land preservation techniques that maximize social welfare, both in the process and outcome, they should be more effective.