Legislator's Guide to Land Management

Americans now realize that land, once a virtually limitless resource in the early years of our Nation, no longer can be used or abused without serious consequences. Inadequate and sometimes improper land management practices have resulted in urban sprawl, environmental devastation, and the irretrievable loss of other natural resources. A significant role in the revision of the land management process rests with individual state legislators. The Council of State Governments, in its efforts to assist and monitor the land management activities of state government, has published this concise handbook on land management. As both state initiatives and federal requirements place more land management issues before state legislators, a better understanding of the basic concepts involved is needed.