Land Conservation
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, in an early decision to come of a nationwide review of national monument designations, recommends that President Trump reduce the size of Bears Ears National Monument.
The Wall Street Journal
Western governors are concerned with signals from the Trump Administration about its intentions to kill a compromise deal to protect 165 million acres of habitat for the sage grouse.
The Denver Post
Utah's San Rafael Swell is the scene of an energy showdown between conservationists who want to preserve this unique landscape (potentially a national monument), private oil and gas companies that want to drill there, and the BLM that has to decide.
The New York Times - U.S.
A novel approach to land conservation is emerging in the American West, where environmental advocates, ranchers, hunters and rich landowners, are utilizing the free market, rather than the courts, to preserve public landscapes.
The New York Times
A new study mandated by the federal Resources Planning Act predicts that developed land in the U.S. will increase by 41 percent in the next five decades. Such development could have dramatic impacts on our natural resources and ecosystems.
NRDC Switchboard
Ole Amundsen discusses the Central Indiana Land Trust's recent work in proactive land use planning, signaling a broader change in the way land trusts are doing business.
APA - Sustaining Places Blog
Land trust have been able to increase their holds during the last five years. Lower land prices and conservation easements on working ranches and farms have enabled greater conservation efforts.
High Country News
A forest management company in Northern Idaho has set aside a 647-acre grizzly bear habitat. Part of the deal is that the company will not log while the grizzlies are in the house.
Bonners Ferry Herald
In Red Wing, Minnesota, the city is seeking to turn 200-acres of marshes and forests into a permanent conservation easement. A citizen group has complained that locking down the land forever is a bad idea.
Red Wing Republican Eagle
A new study in the San Francisco Bay Area says no, that had there been no controls in place there would be only 6.5% more housing built over the past 50 years.
The San Francisco Chronicle
High housing prices cannot be blamed on land conservation efforts, at least not in Silicon Valley, is the word from researchers at Stanford University.
Stanford University News
Bill Fulton was prepping for a panel on transferable development rights programs for last weekend's New Partners for Smart Growth conference in Seattle when he realized the hotel he was in was the beneficiary of just such a program.
California Planning & Development Report
<p>While plenty of investors and homeowners are feeling the pain of the current real estate market, groups trying to protect land from development are welcoming the downturn.</p>
The Wall Street Journal
<p>The developer of the Tejon Ranch agreed to a plan to put permanent conservation easements on almost 375 square miles of ranch lands and wilderness 60 miles north of Los Angeles, in exchange for rights to develop 10 percent of its land holdings.</p>
The New York Times
