LAND USE PLANNING by Holly Forrester 



MACD 1972 Speech Contest Winner 



Einstein once said that matter could neither be created, nor could it 

 be destroyed; it could only be changed. 



This is also true when we speak of land. Land, as we all know it, 

 cannot be created, nor can it be destroyed, but it can be changed. 



Most of our conservation problems are common knowledge. This is what 

 I said when I began studying the problem. I found that our conservation 

 problems are anything but common knowledge. 



As a young person raised on a ranch in Montana, I have been exposed to 

 the doctrine that land must be used according to its capabilities. Some 

 are prone to separate conservation, ecology, land use, and pollution, 

 into completely different categories. I feel all of these categories 

 may be combined into two words, land use . 



To build airports, highways, parking lots, housing and factories on 

 prime agricultural land must be considered a crime when shallow mantled 

 ground, that does not lend itself to ecological beauty or production, is 

 available. For every verdant acre covered by concrete or black top 

 there is that much less oxygen. This may seem insignificant today, or 

 even tomorrow, but it is not impossible that in some future generation 

 we may black top ourselves to death, by suffocation from lack of oxygen. ^ 



Let's turn next to urban sprawl. Urban sprawl is a delicate problem I 

 and the solutions to this problem must be handled through both legisla- s 

 tion and individual cooperation. I say this because many of the three- 

 to-five acre plots sold outside the city limits are prime producing 

 ground and are sold by land owners from deeded blocks. There is no 

 question but what these land owners have the right to sell their land 

 to whomever they choose, but if these land owners do not take it upon 

 themselves to oversee the proper disposition of their deeded acres, 

 some strict zoning legislation must be enacted to do it for them. Along 

 with urban sprawl comes the people's desire to build along stream banks, 

 or in flood plains. At this date we can say, "Oh, well, if they build 

 there, what happens is their own fault." However the problem is deeper 

 than that. If they are flooded, they will naturally call upon some form 

 of government assistance, be it city, county, state, or federal. Now 

 these people become potential burdens to the tax payers. What is the 

 solution? A possible solution would be some sort of legislation pro- 

 hibiting building houses in these areas. 



Garbage disposal is a problem already here. Do we dump it next to the road? 

 Do we dump it in the streams? Better yet, do we dump it in our neighbors 

 back yard? The answer, certainly not. There have been many proposed 

 solutions. One of the most successful is land-filled dumps. Once again, 

 land use planning enters the picture in the selection of a site. 



Many problems of proper land use are yet unsolved. For instance, shall 

 we impound massive bodies of water on the lower reaches of larger 

 streams, or shall we confine our efforts to impounding many smaller 

 bodies of water on the upper reaches? 



