Setting Priorities for Land Conservation -- Copyright -- Other Recent Reports of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology -- Preface -- Contents -- Executive Summary -- CONSIDERATIONS FOR CRITERIA -- The Meaning of Conservation and Public Versus Private Land -- Scientific Bases for Conservation -- Tools and Techniques -- CURRENT CRITERIA -- CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS -- Goals -- Procedures -- 1 Introduction -- LAND-ACQUISITION AGENCIES -- GUIDELINES FOR CRITERIA -- Basic Considerations -- Planning Versus Opportunity -- Acquisition and Alternatives -- THE INFORMATION GAP -- VALUATION CHALLENGES -- REPORT ORGANIZATION -- 2 Public Land, Private Land: An Overview of Ownership and Its Management Challenges -- CONSERVATION: A TERM OF MANY MEANINGS -- The Nineteenth Century: Preservationists and Progressives -- The Early Twentieth Century: Expansion of Resource Management and the Movement for Wilderness Preservation -- Conservation in the Age of Environmentalism -- Natural Sciences and Conservation Efforts -- Elements of Conservation and Its Institutionalization -- PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LANDOWNERSHIP -- Public Landownership in the United States -- Designation of Federal Lands -- Federal Landownership -- Private Landownership in the United States -- DISINCENTIVES FOR CONSERVATION -- THE ROLE OF LANDOWNERSHIP IN CONSERVATION -- 3 The Land-Acquisition Process -- SOURCES OF FUNDING -- The Land and Water Conservation Fund -- National Park Service -- U.S. Forest Service -- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- Bureau of Land Management -- ACQUISITION BY FEDERAL AGENCIES -- The National Park Service -- Mandates -- Acquisition -- Acquisition Criteria -- U.S. Forest Service -- Mandates -- Acquisition authority -- Acquisition Criteria -- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- Agency Mandate and Acquisition Authority -- Acquisition Criteria.

Bureau of Land Management -- Mandates -- Acquisition authority -- Acquisition Criteria -- OMB Criteria -- THE CONGRESS -- LANDOWNERS -- OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES -- Nonfederal Governments -- Native American Tribes -- Land-Protection Constituencies -- Land-Acquisition Opponents -- Acquisition Intermediaries -- Scientific Community -- RATIONAL ANALYSIS AND POLITICS IN THE ACQUISITION PROCESS -- 4 Assessing the Social Effects of Federal Land Acquisition -- INHOLDERS AND FEDERAL LAND ACQUISITION -- SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT -- SIA IN PRACTICE: A BUREAU OF RECLAMATION CASE STUDY -- ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND SIA -- SIA AND CONSERVATION -- 5 The Land Acquisition Process and Biological Preserves: A Role for Natural Sciences -- FUNDAMENTAL ECOLOGICAL CHALLENGES -- Geomorphic Processes -- Hierarchical Levels of Diversity -- Genetic Diversity -- Species Diversity -- Community Diversity -- Global-Scale Diversity -- Conservation-Scale Dependency -- Landscape Dynamics -- Fragmented Landscapes -- Climate -- Disturbance regime -- Changes in the location of suitable habitat -- Reserve Configuration and Landscape Linkages -- OTHER BIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS -- ENHANCING THE ECOLOGICAL EFFECTIVENESS OF THE ACQUISITION PROCESS -- Gap Analysis -- Geographic Information Systems -- Landscape Pattern Analysis -- CONCLUSION -- 6 Nonprofit Organizations -- THE NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION -- DUCKS UNLIMITED -- THE NATURE CONSERVANCY -- Minimal Size of Preserves -- Minimal Population Size -- Preserve Configuration and Justification -- Element and Site Stewardship -- 7 Techniques and Tools of Acquisition -- CONSERVATION EASEMENTS -- TRANSFERABLE DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS -- DEDICATION -- REGULATION -- LAND EXCHANGE -- Effects on USFS and BLM Timber Sales -- Effect on Local Government Revenues -- Exchanges Involving More Than One State.

Time Required to Accomplish Complex Exchanges -- Limits Imposed by National Forest Boundaries -- Conveyance of Mineral Rights -- Other Limitations on the Land Exchange Process -- Regulatory Delay -- Inadequate Identification of Lands Unsuitable to Agency Missions and Available for Exchange -- Inadequate Integration With Regulatory Approaches -- LAND ACQUISITION STRATEGIES AND TRANSACTIONS -- Federal Agencies: Reliance on Willing Sellers -- Nonprofit Organizations: Entrepreneurs and Facilitators -- Hope Valley -- Primerica -- Carrizo Plain -- Coachella Valley -- CONCLUSION -- 8 The Office of Management and Budget -- ADEQUACY OF THE LAPP CRITERIA -- The Minimum Criteria -- The Twelve Ranking Criteria -- Prevents Imminent Development -- Provides Multiple Recreation Opportunities Close to Population Centers -- Preserves Endangered and Threatened Species Habitat -- Preserves a Nationally Significant Natural or Cultural Feature of a Type Not Now Represented in Any Federal Unit -- Preserves Biologically Valuable Wetlands or Riparian Habitat -- Includes Infrastructure for Access for the Public and Handicapped People -- Expands Units With Recent Rapid Growth in Visitor Use -- Improves Manageability and Efficiency of a Unit -- Results in Federal Savings in Acquisition Costs Through the Use of Land Exchanges, Donations, or Other Alternatives -- Involves Federal Acquisition of Less Than Full-Fee Title to the Property -- Involves Significant Nonfederal Partnership -- Ranks 20 Highest Priority Projects According to Agency Mission -- REFLECTION OF AGENCY MISSIONS AND AUTHORITIES -- Protection and Recreation Criteria -- Administrative Criteria -- Cost Criteria -- Conclusions -- 9 Conclusions and Recommendations -- GOALS -- Structuring OMB and Agency Criteria -- Acquisition Strategies and Techniques -- Landscape and Ecosystem Protection.

Representative Natural Areas -- PROCEDURES -- Planning and Acquisition -- Improving Information for Decision Making -- Funding -- Emergency Acquisitions -- Monitoring Acquisitions and Re-evaluating Criteria -- State and Local Issues -- Incentives for Private Landowners -- Acquisition Intermediaries -- References -- Appendix A Presenters and Discussants -- Appendix B Procedure for Compiling Federal Land Acquisition Priority List -- Appendix C National Surveys Relevant to Public Land Use, Protection, and Purchase -- Appendix D The Nature Conservancy: Aquisition Priorities and Preserve Selection and Design -- ACQUISITION PRIORITIES -- Goals -- Priorities -- Operations -- Why Heritage Programs Work -- The Classification System -- Priorities for Acquisition -- PRESERVE SELECTION AND DESIGN -- Objective -- The Administrative Process -- How To Design a Preserve -- Minimum Viable Size of Preserves -- Minimum Viable Population Size -- Preserve Configuration and Justification -- Element and Site Stewardship -- Glossary.