ABSTRACT
The causes, consequences, and control of land use change have become topics of enormous importance to contemporary society. Concern is perhaps most broadly evident in the attention to urban sprawl and the expressed desire for “smart growth.” But land use issues in nonurban settings are also of significant interest. Rural issues include intensification of agricultural production in the form of large confined animal feeding operations; abandonment, afforestation, and desertification of agricultural lands; loss of wetlands to agricultural or other uses; fragmentation of forests by roads and second home developments; and the proper multiple-use management of public forests and range lands.
