The Other Public Lands

Preservation, Extraction, and Politics on the Fifty States' Natural Resource Lands

Steven Davis

• Publisher: Temple University Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN:
  9781439925546
  9781439925539
• eBook ISBN:
  9781439925553
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Environment & Energy Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

For most Americans, state lands are the most readily accessible type of public land; however, despite their ubiquity, they remain largely terra incognita. The Other Public Lands is a primer on state public lands and the political dynamics that underlie their management. Offering a wide-angle overview, Steven Davis focuses on how states prioritize competing claims related to conservation, resource development, tourism, recreation, and finances.

The Other Public Lands looks at both differences and common patterns in state land management, including the structure of natural resource agencies. Davis examines the privatization and commercialization of state parks, and the tensions between recreation, revenue and the preservation of biodiversity and natural landscapes. He also raises issues about equity, access, appropriate development, and ecological health. Chapters review state forests, state wildlife management areas, and school trust lands. In addition, the roles of interest groups, the courts, and agency culture and behavior are compared and analyzed both between states and the federal government and between states with differing approaches to specific issues.

As there has been a demand to transfer at least some federal lands to the states, The Other Public Lands concludes with an appraisal of whether states could handle this transfer and goes on to suggest ways to ensure adequate access in an era of increased demand.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1. State Public Lands: At Once Familiar and Obscure
• 2. The State Park Idea: The Vision and the Reality
• 3. Taking Preservation Seriously: State Natural Areas and Wilderness Areas
• 4. Land of Many Uses, State Edition: State Forests and Multiple Use Lands
• 5. State Wildlife Areas: Values and Priorities in Conflict
• 6. State Trust Lands: The Sort of Public Lands
• 7. Appraising State Management of Public Land: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
• Appendix: Data Sources for State Lands Tables
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index