Public Land Management
Public lands were created for everyone to use. Since people have many different beliefs, opinions, and lifestyles, public area managers work to meet a middle ground in satisfying as many people as possible. Use Project Learning Tree’s activity, 400-Acre Wood, to explore the role of managers of a 400-acre piece of public forest. Contact a local public area near you and ask for a copy of its management plan. If possible, attend a meeting of the Natural Resource Commission or your County Conservation Board when they discuss management plans for public areas.
Book list
Pre-K – Grade 2
Bauer, D. 2003. People Change the Land. Coughlan Publishing.
Wheeler, J.C. 1993. Branch out: A Book about Land. ABDO Publishing Company.
Grades 3-5
Bockenhauer, M.H., J. Carter, and S.F. Cunha. 2004. National Geographic Our Fifty States. National Geographic Society.
Dalgleish, S. 2002. Managing the Land. Chelsea House Publishers.
Deboo, A. 2006. Mapping the Land and Environment. Heinemann.
James, B. 1993. Use of Land. Cengage Learning.
Petersen, C. 2004. Land Preservation. Scholastic Library Publishing.
Snodgrass, M.E. 1991. Environmental Awareness: Land Pollution. Bancroft-Sage Publishing, Incorporated.
Grades 6-8
Casper, J.K. 2007. Agriculture: The Food We Grow and Animals We Raise. Chelsea House Publishers.
Dolan, E.F. 1992. American Wilderness and Its Future: Conservation Versus Use. Scholastic Library Publishing.
Kallen, S. 2005. Managing America's Forests. Greenhaven Press.
Leopold, A. 1989. A Sand County Almanac. Oxford University Press.
Miles, B. 1991. Save the Earth: An Action Handbook for Kids. Scholastic Library Publishing.
Rybolt, T.R. 1993. Environmental Experiments about Land. Enslow Publishers, Incorporated.
Skurzynski, G. 1981. Safeguarding the Land. Harcourt.
Whitman, S. 1994. This Land Is Your Land: The American Conservation Movement. Lerner Publishing Group.
Willis, T. 1992. Land Use and Abuse. Scholastic.
Grades 9-12
Camp, W.G. 2000. Managing Our Natural Resources. Thomson Delmar Learning.
Prior, J.C. and L.A. Stone. 2000. Iowa - Portrait of the Land. Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Geological Survey.
Schwartz, M. 1993. Environment and the Law. Chelsea House Publishers.
