Conservation and Development? Effectively Packaging Land Protection Tools to Preserve Farmland and Manage Growth.

摘要

Farmland loss due to sprawl is a significant problem in the United States. At the same time, land conservation is considered with high regard. These competing efforts, however, often result in piecemeal pockets of protected land that often further issues of sprawl by creating leapfrog and scattered development. There are a variety of regulatory and non regulatory tools and techniques available to landowners, organizations, and communities to combat the conversion of farmland and to steer community growth. These land conservation tools are most effective when bundled together in carefully designed strategies so that the strength of one tool may compensate for the weakness of another. Each conservation strategy, i.e. bundle of tools, should be tailored to a community's specific needs, stakeholder interests, goals, and plan. In doing so, a community is able to achieve both healthy farmland conservation and sustainable growth management.