U.S. Public Lands are a vital part of our nation and what is stands for, but you rarely hear anything about of these lands or the creation of their units anywhere other than a bleak mention in a high school American history class where they briefly mention their conception or if you seek it out in college. The federal government owns just about 30% of all public lands in the United States, (Bureau of Land Management Lecture), which equates to almost 650 million acres, of land of all different types and terrains. The U.S. Public Lands system is divided into five major units, all owned by the federal government, all with different goals and all ran by different legislation but all still dealing with the same things: nature and the environment. …show more content…
I believe the best alternative is for the United States to give back the federal land to the individual states, and then the individual states consolidate the different type of agencies to make one overarching, state run umbrella agency for all parts of the environment. The federal government has spread itself too thin and isn’t properly taking care of the land nor are they making incredible profits. I believe that giving the land back to the states will be beneficial to help keep the costs down, centralize the efforts, and make “saving,” and “preserving,” the environment more efficient in the long …show more content…
From their homesteading practices, which eventually fell apart leading to BLM lands and grazing permits, to National Park Services, which at one time made profit, are now barely breaking even, even with tourism. The only really profitable aspects are the oil, gas and mining companies, which reside on federal land but those are poorly managed and do more bad than good for the environment and all people living around them. At first it will be hard but it’s not impossible under the right leadership who truly only wants the betterment of the environment, I think with strict guidelines and rules this could be the most profitable solution for humankind and the environment. I believe that giving the land back to the states will be beneficial to help keep the costs down, centralize the efforts, and make “saving,” and “preserving,” the environment more efficient in the long
Abbott, Martin. "Free Land, Free Labor and the Freedmen's Bureau." Agricultural History 30.4 (1956): 150-56.
In the year of 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Land Grant Act providing funds for the creation of land-grant schools in each state in the United States of America. Specifically, this act gave each state “30,000 acres…to establish a college that would promote education in agriculture, mechanics, classical studies and military tactics” (Morrill Act). The act provided each state with government funds to purchase the land, but the state itself was required to find the capital to erect the buildings. The Morrill Act was initially introduced to President Buchanan, but he vetoed it based on his belief that it was “financially draining for the Treasury, a threat to existing colleges, and unconstitutional” (Morrill, J.). On the second occasion
Imagine a scenic, wild landscape with animals that roam freely, cascading waterfalls, and mountains that seem to scrape the pale blue sky. This is what one thinks when first hearing the name Yosemite National Park. Unfortunately, the reality is completely opposite. Yosemite is now under a federally regulated Class 1 area under the Clean Air Act, which is equivalent to the pollution of Los Angeles (“National Parks Service”). It is a sad comparison to the past John Muir, who first documented Yosemite Valley, to today’s reality. The condition of Yosemite National Park should be introduced to the American public in order to protect its historic beauty and significance, eliminate current pollution, and prevent future repercussions.
...leaving a little portion of land to the animals is not that bad. The reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone has been very beneficial to the ecosystem. We tried to eliminate this species but in the end, we need to ask ourselves the question, do we really need to eliminate another species based on our own biases and fears? We need to look past personal gain, and leave nature to take its course.
The United States government is known to give its citizens great advise with much care and concern. With this being known, many people come to the conclusion that United States citizens can faith in the government when it comes to making crucial decisions. Terry Tempest Williams is not one of these people. In “The Clan of the One-Breasted Women”, Williams gives her views on the government conducting nuclear tests in Utah. In contrast, in “America’s Energy Plan in Action: Bearing Witness,” an article Williams contributed to Orion magazine and OrionOnline, Williams speaks on issues containing actions of the government drilling for oil and natural gases. This is also conducted in Utah. Both of these articles share a common topic and tone. These two pieces both focus around major concerns for the Earth and how the government will is helping to destroy it for things like nuclear testing and drilling for oil and gases.
Setting the stage for our national and state government, Federalisms, looked to be a solution to these issues. By focusing on a strong state government, Federalism, shifted power away from the national government. Two strengths of these changes are and increase access to government, and tailored policy that fits the local government’s needs. Two weaknesses of American federalism are that local interests can hinder nationally supported policies, and a conflict of authority.
...overnment. This restoration plan is very controversial because it is the biggest environmental restoration plan in history. Many feel with a task this large many important ecological factors could be overlooked. The State of Florida has already spent billions of dollars on restoring various ecological problems in The Everglades, but it is not enough. The U.S. government has only given The State of Florida four hundred million dollars of the eight billion dollars due to them. Researchers say the quality and the hydrology of the water needs to be addressed now before it is too late. The expected completion of these fifty projects that will restore The Everglades is estimated to take around twenty more years. In 2012, twelve years after The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was created little progress was achieved restoring the core of The Everglades.
Theodore Roosevelt was born October 27, 1858 in New York City. His mother was Martha "Mittie" Buloch, who was a Southern Belle. She was rumored to have been a prototype for the Gone with the Wind character Scarlett O' Hara1. His father was Theodore "Thee" Roosevelt, Sr. who was of Dutch heritage. His family owned a successful plate-glass import business.
...n our federal system has changed dramatically over the years. State governments have served as training grounds for national politicians and as laboratories in which new ideas can be tested. The Supreme Court, in its role as interpreter of the Constitution, has been a major player in the redefinition of our federal system. Increasingly, Congress has been guilty of undertaking areas traditionally reserved to the states and restricting authority to regulate these areas. Both federal and state politicians compete to address problems. Over the years, power in the federal system has flowed to the national government because tax money has flowed to there. With its financial resources, the federal government has been able to offer assistance to state and local governments and thereby, involve itself in just about every governmental function performed by these governments.
Although the power has shifted back and forth from stronger decentralized government to a dominant centralized government, the balance between the two has yet to fall completely. Thanks to the limitations the Founders installed into our Constitution, there has yet a time where the states or national government has the total power to control the nation as a whole. We call this type of government system as the federal system. In a federal system, there are different but separate levels of government who has their own powers. Furthermore, in order to ensure that the centralized government is not oppressing the states there are also limitations on certain national powers (McDaniel and Shaw, 2014). However, through the various Supreme Court controversial cases, we see that the Supreme Court is giving the states the choice to legalize or not laws such as same-sex marriage and gun control. Yet on the other hand, states have increasingly depended on the national government for funding various activities such as educational funds and national security funds (Kollman, 2013). Since states have to rely on the national government for the various funding, it seems as if the national government essentially has the upper hand over what the fifty states can and cannot do.
A division of powers between the states and the federal government creates a system that is better equipped to serve the necessities of its populaces. Each state has different needs and traditions from the other. Considering these differences moral pluralism should come into play in a federalist system as explained by Jonathan Rauch. Moral pluralism provides states the power to reach their own judgments regarding matters where there is a lack of national moral consensus (Rauch, 104). For instance, states would be divided in options over topics that deal with sensitive subjects like abortion and gay marriage.
Federalism is a political system in which authority is divided between different levels of government (Barbour and Wright, 75). Federalism has been around since 1787 in the United States of America. The divided powers between the state governments and the national governments are powers that are limited to a certain level so they do not depend on each other for power. The United States of America has a federal government in which the central government shares influence with the numerous smaller state governments. The idea was for a “more perfect union.”
Kevin B. Smith, Alan Greenblatt, and John Buntin, Governing states and localities: First Edition (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press), 2005, 95.
This is where the idea of Federalism comes into play. The definition of Federalism goes as follows; Federalism is the philosophy that power should be divided between the central powers and all its constituents. In other words the power of the United States should not all be in the hands of the national government, each state should have a say in the way that they want their own state to run. Every state wants to progress in a different way, and every state wants to progress at a different speed. However when problems get to large for a single state run government to handle, the national (federal) government will proceed to step in and set forth the necessary measures to control the situation.
Federalism or “federal” ties around a system of government. It controls armies, declares wars, coins money, and regulate trade between states and foreign nations, and treaties (Mrs, Crouse’s powerpoint pg:3 num:9). Specifically this was created to organize the powers that exist in the system of government so everything can be organized. It also divides the power among a central government and several regional governments (Mrs, Crouse’s powerpoint pg:2 num:8). More ever Since everything passes through one system it had to be divided into 3 sections: delegated powers, implied powers, and inherited powers.