LUTHER GULICK 127 



military establishments.^^ While these are not all purely urban-gen- 

 erated facilities, it would hardly be contended that the thruways are 

 farm-to-market necessities, or that the airports are not directly re- 

 lated to the cities. 



Another major urban land use is found in the development of 

 watersheds for expanding city water systems. Fortunately, with 

 proper management, the watershed may also become a recreational 

 resource, so that these two uses may be accommodated, as may tim- 

 ber and recreation in our national and state forests, and water con- 

 trol, power and recreation in our flood control projects. 



As a result of the pushing out of urban sprawl, we are now face 

 to face with other important problems of rational land use. Notably 

 in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, city "develop- 

 ments" are destroying some of the finest and most productive agri- 

 cultural land on the continent. Certain of these soil, climate, and 

 cultural combinations are unmatched and all but irreplaceable, and 

 have been the source of important percentages of the crops for which 

 they have long been famous. Their orchards, vineyards, and truck 

 gardens are among the most productive and satisfying in the world, 

 a wonderful spiritual resource, also, for nearby urban human ten- 

 sions. Yet the city sprawl engulfs them, as "progress" marches on 

 and the bulldozer and the "developer" push their degrading oper- 

 ations.^^ 



As I have observed elsewhere, this encroachment of urbanization 

 into the richest agricultural lands is not solely a Western phenome- 

 non. It exists also in Asia, even at the cost of reducing standards of 

 living still further and contributing to the recurrent waves of starva- 

 tion, as in India and China. ^'^ 



Measured in immediate dollars, I will admit that the recorded 

 owner of the "fee simple" to a Santa Clara County farm will derive 

 more for his orchard as California building lots than for raising 



i*The President's Materials Policy Commission (Paley Commission) esti- 

 mated in 1952 that 15 million acres of farm land would be taken by the growth 

 of cities, roads and airports from 1950 to 1975. Resources for Freedom (Wash- 

 ington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1952), Vol. I, p. 48. 



15 William H. Whyte, Jr., "Urban Sprawl," Fortune, January 1958. 



16 Luther Gulick, "Metropolitan Expansion and Public Administration," paper 

 delivered at Association for the Advancement of Science, December 1957, p. 4. 



