Land Use

by Anonymous

Lesson I - Who Decides?
(Grades 6-12 , Duration: 3-5 class periods plus research time)

Materials: Prior to this activity the teacher should research the phone numbers and names of contact personal of local agencies that will be used by the students to answer issue questions.

Skills:
-problem solving
-communicating
-decision-making

Objectives: By the end of these investigations, your students should be able to:
1. recognize the special interests of some organizations and agencies involved in making decisions;
2. locate laws, ordinances and information that apply to particular environmental issues;
3. list five different ways people use land;
4. identify and follow actions related to a specific environmental issue.

Background:
Land use planning is the process of shaping the use of land for different purposes based on the needs and resources of the area and the characteristics of the land. It can be considered an attempt to predict the future and plan the best use of land to accommodate future needs and growth. Most communities have some kind of system, such as a city plan, a set of zoning regulations, or ordinances prohibiting or permitting certain kinds of activities. This system may regulate how land is used, where parks and factories can be located, or where highways can be built. Because the land available to meet the needs of an increasing population has remained the same, the demands placed on it have increased, and thus comprehensive land use planning has become more important.

Setting the Stage:
To help your students learn some of the ways they use land, guide them in listing the services and places their families use, such as grocery stores, clothing stores, electricity, playgrounds, telephone communication, swimming pools, factories, dentist offices, libraries, hospitals, and roads. Students could also gather pictures and show these places on a collage. These questions may help them start thinking about land uses:
1. What recreational facilities do you use?
2. Where do your parents work?
3. Where do you shop?
4. What items do you own? Where did you get them? Where do you take them for service?
5. Where is your food grown?
6. Where do you live?
7. Where does your electricity come from? How does it get to you?
8. Where is your water obtained and/or purified?

When your students have an extensive list of places, work with them to group the items on the list into categories. Your students will probably suggest zoning categories such as commercial, industrial and recreational.

If you can, take a short walking tour of the area right around the school. This can be particularly effective in urban areas. Do you see a variety of land uses? How does the location of the school relate to the adjacent land use? Now your students are ready to explore the land use planning process within your community.

Procedure:
1. Explain to your students that they will be contacting local agencies to find out the answers to land use questions. These county or municipal offices are responsible for making decisions that many people don't think about but are very important in our daily lives.

2. Assign each of your students one of the problem questions listed below. Choose questions based on the agencies or resources you have made prior contact with. (This is not an exhaustive list. The class may be curious about other aspects of community services and regulations and students may want to answer their own questions, as well.)

a. How many building permits were listed last month in your community/county? How many were commercial? What agency issued these permits?
b. How many fire hydrants are in your community/county? Where did you find out how many there are?
c. How many sanitary landfills are in your community? What agency manages them? What company or agency collects the garbage that goes into the landfills?
d. How many sewage treatment plants exist in your county? Are the treatment plants in compliance with Federal regulations? Are they adequate to serve the community's needs?
e. Which land use category (residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, etc.) covers the largest land area in your community/county?
f. How many zoning categories are there in your community/county?
g. How many parks are in your community? What agency is responsible for managing them? Where are the parks located? Are they evenly distributed throughout the community?
h. How many members sit on the zoning board? Are these zoning board members appointed, elected or paid employees?
i. How many public buses are owned by your community/county?
j. How many miles of county-maintained roads exist?
k. How many miles of city/community-maintained roads are there?
l. Is there a community/county land use plan in existence? Where was it written?
m. Is there a planning commission in your community? Is it different than the zoning board? How large is the commission and are the members appointed, elected or paid employees?
n. How early can construction workers star using noisy equipment in your community? Who enforces this regulation?
o. At what hour can phone, gas line or utility repairmen start working in residential areas?
p. How early can airplanes start taking off and landing at the nearest airport? How late can they operate?
q. What does the "hospital zone" sign mean to trucks?
r. What citizen action committees or organizations exist in your community?

3. You may want to make the initial contact with local resources and agencies. Then allow your students to decide, with guidance, what questions to ask and how to ask them. Allow your students plenty of time to gather the answers to their questions.

4. When students have gathered their information, have them share the processes they went through to answer their questions with the rest of the class.
a. Who had to call or contact the most people before getting the needed information?
b. Which student had the most difficult time obtaining the information?
c. Who had the easiest time?

5. Once the questions from Procedure #2 have been answered, use them to make an organizational chart of the planning system in your community. You can then use the chart to follow zoning variances and building permit requests through the approval system and to show the relationships among the various agencies responsible for land use planning in your community. You should also be able to use the chart to identify the steps in the process where citizen action is most effective.

6. Now that your students have gathered information about their local planning authority, they should explore the impact land use planning has on private rights. People have traditionally been able to do almost anything they wished with their land, but this is no longer true in some places. Your students should solve the problems below, using the information they have gathered and the agencies they have identified to help them find the answers. (They may want to change the problems slightly to make them more specific to your own community.)

a. A man who owns land in a residential section of town wants to build a fast-food restaurant on the land. - Can he do it?
b. A cattle rancher owns land close to a small group of homes. The smell from his feed lots is bothering the residents. What can they do about it?
c. A developer wants to build an apartment building on the lot next to your home. You are afraid it will lower your property value. Can you legally stop or change the developer's plans?
d. You bought a house on a hillside because it has a wonderful view of the river valley below. Recently, construction was started on a high-rise apartment building just down the hill that will obscure your view of the valley. Can you legally stop or change the plans?
e. The local electric company plans to build a nuclear power plant in your community. Citizens do not want it there. Can they stop the construction?
f. Your city is growing rapidly and your street is now being used by commuters to get to work. It is noisy and dangerous for young children. Can the residents do something to stop the use of the street by commuters?
g. The State Highway Commission is building a new highway and has bought most of the houses and lots on which the highway will be built. One family does not want to sell and has refused the state's offer. Who has the legal right to determine the land use, the state or the citizen?
h. The county wants to widen your street to a four-land road because of increased traffic. You don't want the street widened because it will increase the danger to the children in your neighborhood. What can you do?
i. The county wants to sell some land which was supposed to be developed as a public park. The local citizens want the land to remain county property and to be developed as a park. Can they stop the sale?

Evaluation:
1. What amount of influence do students think the private citizen has on land use decisions, especially regarding his or her own land? What concessions must one make when he or she lives in a heavily populated area? In a small community?
2. Which agency is most influential in planning land use within your community?
3. What environmental issues were identified having to do with land use planning in your local community? What special interest groups have become involved in the issues?
4. How easy or difficult is it for the individual citizen to have input into land use decisions in your community? Could the process for citizen input be improved, and if so, how?

Enrichment Projects:
1. If your students have identified a local environmental problem, explore the issues involved in solving the problem and the possibility of your class helping to raise funds or do something more direct to help solve it. They could hold a benefit costume dance at which students dress in costumes depicting our most serious environmental problems. Contests can be held at the dance for the most realistic costume, the costume that most nearly shows what considerations are involved in solving the problems or perhaps the costume which most clearly or cleverly shows the stand taken by a particular interest group. The money that is raised can then be used to help solve the problem in the local area.

2. Land Use (zoning): Identify zoning areas and their restrictions in your communities, then draw a map illustrating them and add the man-made structures or elements within them. Do they all meet the zoning restrictions for their areas?

3. Zoning Variance: Identify any structures that are inconsistent with zoning regulations and discover the terms under which their construction was approved.


Lesson II - Who Planted the Maple on Elm Street?
(Grades 6-12, Duration: 3-5 class periods)

Materials:
-tree identification guides

Skills:
-observing
-measuring
-recording
-classifying
-analyzing
-communicating
-hypothesizing

Objectives: By the end of this investigation, your students should be able to:
-give 3 examples showing how two species of trees are similar and dissimilar
-compare 2 different groups of trees and identify the trees which are of the same species
-list 5 benefits provided by trees

Background:
Sampling provides an exciting introduction to statistics. Your students should have the opportunity to explore statistics though this and by other sampling experiments. The teacher and students should think about the following questions and issues through out the investigation. Is there a relationship between the size of the sample and the reliability of the sample? The students may want to design a plan to prove the reliability of their sampling technique.

Setting the Stage:
Your students must know how to take a sample in order to conduct a community tree inventory in this investigation. Use this exercise to prepare them to develop a sample technique and to show them that samples can give approximate population counts if the samples are large enough. Left-handers and right-handers: how many of each?

1. Count the number of left- and right-handers in your class and in four other classes. What is the ratio of left-handers to right-handers? What percentage of the total population in the class is left-handed?

2. Have students suggest several methods to pick specific groups of students and count the left and right-handers in the group. For example, pick a group of all:
a. students whose last names begin with a, d, r, u, w;
b. students sitting in the 2nd and 4th rows;
c. students whose birthdays are in June, April, July and October.

By experimenting with sample sizes, discover how large and sample needs to be to give an accurate estimate for the total population.

3. What is the ratio of left-handers to right-handers in each group? Is it similar to the ratio you found when you counted every student? They should find that:

# of left-handers in total class # of left-handers in a small sample
# of students in the class = # of students in the sample

4. Now, pick some other characteristic (such as eye color) and take several samples first. Predict the number having that characteristic in the class or classes as a whole. Then count all the students and find out if your sample provided an accurate estimate. How do the class results compare with national or world statistics for those characteristics.

Procedure: Now your students are ready to develop a sampling plan in order to conduct an inventory of the trees in your community.

1. Define the boundaries of the inventory area. Perhaps 4 streets that define the neighborhood.

2. Develop a sampling technique to count the trees within the boundaries you have selected. Will you count the trees in the yards of every 2nd or 6th house on each street? Will you count all the trees on every 2nd or 4th street, or perhaps just the trees growing along city streets? Let your students set the boundaries and develop their own sampling plan. When they begin the inventory, they may well discover that they have tried to do too much or too little with their original plan and will have to try a different technique.

3. Divide the inventory area into study sections and assign each section.

4. Students must be able to identify the trees in their sections. Provide each student or group with several identification guides. A local nurseryman or naturalist may also be able to help your class with identifications.

5. Each student or group should gather the following information about their study section. When the information is compiled, it will be the basis of the class' community tree inventory.

a. What is the total number of trees in a random sample of a study section? Based on the random sample, what is the total estimated number of trees in the study section?

b. How many of each species of tree are there in a random sample of a section? Based on this, what is the estimated number of each species in the entire study section?

c. What is the most common tree in the study section?

d. How many species of ornamentals are in the study section? In the schoolyard? (Some ornamental trees may not be native to your area and may not be included in regional identification guides. Prepare your students for this and work together to identify ornamentals.) Students could ask a local nursery or the homeowner to identify particular trees for them.

e. What is the most common tree in the schoolyard? How many dead trees are in the study sections? How many trees have been planted in the past three years? What kinds? You may want to ask other similar questions in order to develop a more detailed survey of the trees in your inventory area.

f. Find the tree with the largest circumference in the study section. Use a piece of string to measure the circumference at chest height and use the formula x d = c to find the diameter of the tree. = 3.14 so the diameter can be found from: d = c / or d = c / 3.14.

g. Make observations about the animals, including insects found near or in the trees. If students wish, they can use field guides to identify the animals.

6. When the data from the individual study sections has been compiled, students can estimate the total number of trees and the number of kinds of trees found in the entire inventory. For example, if a given group of students counted the number of trees on every other street in their section, they can now double this number to obtain an estimate of the total number of trees in their study section area. Adding up the estimated total number of trees in each study section will give you the estimate of the total number of trees for the entire inventory area. (See sampling techniques as outlined in Setting the Stage).

Evaluation: When the community inventory is complete use these questions to analyze the data.

1. What kinds of trees are most common? List some qualities of these trees that you think would account for their popularity.

2. Are the same kinds of trees planted in the schoolyard as in the rest of the community? If so, for what reason might this have been done?

3. What animals are most common? Which, if any, animals were found in only one or two kinds of trees? Can your students suggest some theories explaining their observations?

4. Do the same animals that live in or near the trees in the schoolyard live in the rest of the community? If not, what could be the reason for this?

5. Survey local residents. Why did they select the trees they planted in their yard? What qualities of those trees did they find particularly attractive?

Extensions:

1. You might be able to find out where the oldest tree in your community is located. Call the parks and recreation department of your area and ask them if they know where it is. An article can then be written by the students for your local newspaper about the tree, the history it has seen and interesting facts about the species.

2. Your students could prepare information for the public about local trees and their care. The information should include a list of trees that grow well in the area and which are suited to particular settings. It could also include information about tree pests and what to do about them and about how to encourage development of particular kinds of tree communities. This information is available from your local Cooperative Extension agent or a local nursery.

3. If your school has a newspaper, write a series of articles each week about a different kind of tree on the school grounds. Include interesting facts about the tree and make sure you give information on how to locate it on the school grounds. If you can find out when the tree was planted, your article could cover the history of the area through the tree's lifetime.

4. If your students have identified all the trees on the school grounds, they can label each tree, giving information about the kind of tree it is, its uses, its normal habitat and other facts interesting to the class.


Lesson III - Planning the Ideal Community
(Grades 6-12, Duration: 1 hour, Activity - 5 class periods)

Materials:
Part A:
-a map of the area around your school (see Getting Ready)
-chart paper or overhead transparencies
-marking pens or overhead pens

Part B:
-large pieces of paper
-colored construction paper
-tape or glue
-marking pens

Skills:
-representing
-identifying
-restructuring
-synthesizing
-creating

Objectives: Students will:
-map the locations of services and resources in their community
-create a map of an "ideal" community that includes all the services and resources people need.

Background:
A community includes all the people who live in a place. Different members of a community exchange goods and services so that all people get what they need to live there. A thriving human community includes residential areas; commercial areas; industrial areas; schools; public services (police, fire department, hospitals); transportation systems; utility systems; food distribution systems; recreation areas; and cultural resources (libraries, churches, theaters, museums). In this activity, students will explore the elements that compose a human community. They will survey the area around their school, looking for community systems that help them live there. Then they will plan an ideal community that meets all the needs of its members.

Preparation:
Decide on the size of the area that students will survey. For example, in urban areas, a two-block area around the school is fine. Obtain or draw a simple map of the survey area. Make a copy for each student. (Or have students copy a sketch from the chalkboard). Also, make an overhead transparency of the map or an enlargement on chart paper.

Procedure: Part A - Community Living

1. Ask students what they think a community is. Ask pairs of students to list 5 places or services they use in their community. Examples might include roads, schools, hospitals, electricity, parks, libraries, police services, or movie theaters. As students share their ideas, list the examples on an overhead transparency or chart paper.

2. Look over the list, and ask students whether anything that people in the community need to live there is missing. Help class members think of services or resources by asking questions such as the following: "How do people get the food they need? Where do they live? How do they get around?" Add new ideas with public services, public utilities and cultural resources.

3. Divide the class into groups of 3 to 6 students. Distribute the maps to each student. Explain that groups will survey the area around the school to find the community resources and services they listed in Steps 1 and 2. Divide the list equally among all of the groups. On the back of their map, members of each group should write down the items they will look for. When students find one of the items on their list, they should record on their map the name and location of the item.

4. Take students for a walk around the survey area, allowing time for students to look for and record their findings. Alternatively, you may assign students to survey the area on their way to or from school.

5. Help students compile their findings on the class map. Using that map as a focal point, lead a discussion about students' findings by asking these types of questions:
-What community services and resources did you find? What seemed to be missing?
-Does the community have a problem because those things are not present?
-Would you have found them if you had surveyed a larger area?
-Were there enough services and resources in the area that you surveyed?
-Does your survey represent what you would find in other communities?
-What about the area around your home? What might be different?
-What did you learn from your survey? Did anything surprise you?
-What would you like to see changed in the community?

Part B - Community Planning

1. Explain that students will have an opportunity to be community planners and to design an ideal community that meets all the needs of its residents. Ask students to brainstorm a list of the facilities, resources and services that their ideal community will include.

2. Using the same groups as in Part A, allow students 2-4 periods to plan and map their communities.

3. Ask groups to share their maps with the rest of the class and to describe the features of their design.

4. Use these questions to lead a discussion about the maps and the planning process:
-How did your group decide what features to include and where to place them?
-Give an example of how your group resolved a disagreement.
-Compare your ideal communities to actual communities. How are they: the same? different?
-What would it be like to live in each of the ideal communities?
-What would it be like for a young child? For a store owner? For an animal?
-What did you learn from this activity?

Evaluation:
In examining students' maps, look for their understanding of the elements necessary to sustain a thriving community. Consider how well students balanced basic services and resources with social, cultural and recreational needs. Did students incorporate natural resources in their maps?

Enrichment:

1. Invite a representative from an urban planning office or firm to visit your class. Students can ask the planner about the process in which land-use decisions are made, about the community's goals for the future or about changes the community anticipates making as it grows.

2. Interview residents who have lived in the community for more than 25 years. Ask them how the community has changed and whether they think the changes were for the better.

3. Use a computer program such as "SimCity" or "SimCity 2000" to test the "ideal" communities designed in Part B. At the start of the program set the speed to pause. Allow a group to build a community with the funds available. Then allow the city to run for a set number of years without additional construction. The programs simulation of population growth, crime levels and tax revenues can be used to evaluate and rate each design.


Lesson IV - Are There Any Clear Cut Answers
(Grades 6-12, Duration: 1-2 periods)

Materials:
-Westridge Forest map
-sets of role cards

Skills:
-classifying
-analyzing
-hypothesizing
-communicating
-valuing
-problem-solving

Objectives: By the end of these investigations, your students should be able to:
-list 4 forest uses to be considered in developing a management plan for a public forest;
-explain the relationship between the amount of ground cover in an area and the amount of runoff;
-predict the effects of specific circumstances (forest fire, large clear cut, human development, climate) on the stream flow in a watershed;
-list 5 benefits provided by trees;
-explain the difference between clear cutting and selective cutting and when each is used:
-define a watershed

Background:
A topographical map is a special map that shows the shape and elevation of the land as well as cultural features (cities, roads, buildings, bridges, etc.). The most important feature used on a topographic map is the contour line. A contour line can be straight or curved and connects points of the same elevation or height on the map. The map key often tells you the elevation difference between contour lines. On the Westridge Forest map included in this activity each contour line represents a change in elevation of 20 feet (about 6 meters). The set of concentric elevation lines or curves in the lower right quadrant of the map represent the peak of "Elk Mountain". Counting the number of contour lines from the peak of the mountain down to the valley to the west, on the left side of the map, shows that "Elk Mountain" has an elevation of more than 400 feet (123 meters).

Setting the Stage:
Familiarize your students with the major topographical features of the Westridge Forest, using the map. A river flows through the forest from southwest to northeast. The western slope of the river near the western border of the forest is bounded by a steep cliff. The forest on the eastern side of the river is hilly and covered with Douglas-fir and lodgepole pine. The western side of the river gradually levels out from the steep cliff into a forested flatland and a meadow. Black cottonwood and black willow trees grow along the river. The western side of the river is primarily covered in Engelmann spruce and aspen. Tell your students they will be developing a forest management plan for this 10,000-acre forest.

Procedure:

1. Divide your class into groups of 4 and give each group member one of the role cards. Each group should include a wildlife biologist, a forester, a watershed manager and a recreation specialist.

2. Now give each group a copy of the forest map and the worksheet on the last two pages of this lesson.

3. These instructions cover the information your students need to develop their plans:
-Many different professionals, such as foresters, wildlife biologists, recreation specialists and soil scientists work together to manage large forests. Each of these people is responsible for developing a plan to manage the forest as a recreation area, a wildlife habitat or a source of timber, depending on his or her specialty. For example, a wildlife biologist is primarily responsible for maintaining good habitat for wildlife in the forest. The forester is responsible for developing a system to replace trees as they are cut for timber and for designing a system of logging in the most efficient and environmentally sound way.

Each student group is going to develop a management plan for this forest which will allow recreation, logging, wildlife habitat, and a healthy watershed. You each have a different role to support. You will help develop a management plan for this forest based on what you, in your role, feel is important. Use any method you want in order to develop your plan. You can draw it on a large piece of paper or you could make a three-dimensional representation of it showing the management procedures you will follow. But keep in mind that you must consider future needs as well as present ones as you develop your forest management plan.

Before beginning your plan, each group should work together as a group to complete the work sheet. The questions on the worksheet are answered on different role cards or the map, and each one of you will be able to answer some of the questions for the group. This will help you keep in mind all the considerations you must follow as you develop your plan.

4. Allow ample time for the groups to choose their own methods and to develop their plans.

Evaluation:
When the plans are finished, display them in the classroom. Allow each group to make a brief presentation answering these questions about its plan. The presentation should also discuss the problems the group experienced in developing a comprehensive plan.
1. What factors were considered when your management plan was developed?
2. What problems did you encounter in developing your plan?
3. What compromises were necessary as your plan was developed?
4. What plans did you make for the future? What will be your logging plan in 10 years? In 20 years? How will this affect the forest's ability to meet other needs in the future?

To demonstrate why land management plans need to be flexible, pose the following question. How would a forest fire that burned over 600 acres in the southeastern part of the forest affect the wildlife and timber production? Allow each group time to consider the problem then discuss it as a class. Note: There are no correct answers to these issues, only well reasoned positions.

Extension Projects:

1. In most suburban and urban areas, trees along streets and in parks are "managed." Someone is responsible for their care. Your students could inventory the forested parks or street trees in their community. This community inventory could also include a study of the benefits provided by the trees and parks, a map showing the locations of the parks and/or the "street trees", and information about the trees. Your students could contact the local park or conservation authority to find out more about the maintenance of the trees and perhaps become involved in caring for them, raising money to replace dead trees or starting their own tree planting program. Some questions that they can ask are:

a. What department maintains trees along the street and in the community?

b. Do local citizens have a voice in where and what kinds of trees are planted?

c. How much money is spent on tree maintenance annually? What does that money pay for?

d. How are trees chosen for parks and street sides?

e. What kinds of problems (disease, parasites, accidents, vandalism, weather) do maintenance crews have with trees, and do they have standard plans for dealing with them?

2. Chestnut blight, Dutch Elm disease, the Tussock moth, and the gypsy moth are some of the more notorious diseases or pests that destroy trees. Interested or concerned students may want to identify tree afflictions, their origins, the trees and geographical areas they affect, remedies for them, and the damage they do, both to the trees and to commerce.

Forest Manager Role Cards - cut apart for use in activity
Forester
It's up to me to make sure the forest continues to produce timber and meet other human needs. I must reforest at the same rate I harvest to assure a sustained yield. The Wildlife Biologist, the Watershed Manager, and the Recreation Specialist here at the forest all help me in making decisions.

"Douglas fir and lodgepole pine grow best in lots of sunlight. Although I know that clear cutting can cause some serious problems and may not look very good on the landscape, I want the eastern part of the forest to grow back in lodgepole pine and Douglas fir after the area has been logged, so I want to clear cut the mature fir and pine. The US forest Service has regulations which specify (unless exceptions are made) the size of clear cuts in different forest types. Because of a variety of factors, I want to limit the size of clear cuts in this forest to a maximum of 40 acres.

On the other hand, the Engelmann spruce, which grow on the northern and western sides of the forest, reproduce best in somewhat shady conditions, so I have decided to selectively cut it. First, we'll harvest only older, mature trees and diseased trees. Then we'll cut out some of the very small trees so that other small trees have a better chance to grow.

In another 20 years, I will have a very good stand of Engelmann spruce, which can again be selectively cut to allow other trees to grow. I must clear cut a total of at least 500 acres or selectively cut a total of 800 acres each year, or the timber harvesting won't be economically worthwhile, but I can combine clear cutting and selective cutting. A study of logging costs, special equipment, road building and other economic factors lead to the following set of alternatives for harvesting timber:

1. Clear cut 500 acres and selectively cut 0.0 acres;
2. Clear cut 400 acres and selectively cut 160 acres
3. Clear cut 250 acres and selectively cut 400 acres
4. Clear cut 200 acres and selectively cut 480 acres
5. Clear cut 125 acres and selectively cut 600 acres
6. Clear cut 100 acres and selectively cut 640 acres
7. Clear cut 0.0 acres and selectively cut 800 acres

Recreation Specialist
It's my job to develop recreational facilities within the forest. I would like to develop a 25 ft. wide, 10-mile cross country ski trail and a 50-acre campground. My campground should be in a good stand of trees and have small clearings for the campsites.

I would also like to develop a hiking trail which crosses the river in the middle of the forest and goes up to the top of Elk Mountain. The trail will go down the other side of the mountain and then back to the campground. I haven't decided where to put the ski trail yet. I want to make sure that large clear cuts will not be visible from anywhere on the trail at the top of Elk Mountain. clear cuts that follow the natural contours of the land and that cover less than 40 acres might be all right.

In addition to the 50-acre campground, I want to develop a 30-acre campground in another part of the forest where people can be close to the river for trout fishing. I must also build a road into a parking area along the river for trout fisherman and canoeists. This road can't be built in steep areas of the forest because erosion from the road may be too great. I must find a gentle sloping area for this road. I feel that logging operations should not be visible from the road either, because they will adversely affect the enjoyment of the visitors to this beautiful forest.

Wildlife Biologist
It's my responsibility to make sure this forest provides suitable habitats for many different kinds of animals. Deer live on the eastern side of the river, but their numbers are decreasing. They go down to the river for water and they feed in meadow and shrub areas close to the river and in openings of the forest.

Sometimes logging small tracts of land increases the amount of forage available because it allows shrub and young trees to grow. It also creates more edges which are very important in managing habitats. An edge is a place where two different habitats, such as meadow and forest, meet. the abundance and variety of plants found in edges is greater than that in one general habitat area, and thus the variety of wildlife is also greater.

My data show that if we clear cut four or five 25-acre tracts on the eastern side of the forest, more food will be available to the deer. We can't, however, clear cut more than ten 25-acre sections in any one year because this would provide too much food. The deer population might increase too much and damage the forest by feeding on valuable young timber trees.

The eastern part of this forest is an excellent habitat for woodpeckers. The old forests, such as the Douglas fir and lodgepole pine stands in that area, contain standing dead trees that the woodpeckers need for building nests and finding insects to eat. It is important to maintain part of these older stands to keep some of the rotting trees there for the woodpeckers and fallen trees for ground squirrels and other small animals.

Watershed Manager
This national forest protects the watershed for the city of Cleveland Falls, 50 miles downstream. The vegetation in a forest keeps water from running off the land too quickly and causing erosion, which is a problem particularly when steep hillsides and areas along streams and rivers are logged. In this forest, we can never log along the very steep slope on the southwestern side of the forest.

We also should not log along the river. The cottonwoods that grow along the stream protect it, and they would not make good lumber anyway. It is important to leave these areas undisturbed. If the forest remains a forest, the city of Cleveland Falls will have a steady supply of water. However if 50 percent of the forest acreage is cut, too much water will run off too quickly. Up to 35 percent of the forest could be selectively cut without affecting the watershed. Some parts of the forest can be logged without seriously affecting the watershed, but these parts should not be close to the river. I recommend that clear cutting not be done on sections larger than 30 acres.

We also need to monitor the number and location of roads because they are a major source of erosion if they are not properly made. Therefore, I think we should only have two roads on the western side of the forest and two on the eastern side to use in logging. I have placed an X on the map in each of the 100-acre tracts which I do not think should be logged at all. The remainder of the forest could be logged without causing severe erosion, but I would prefer selectively cutting or clear cutting in 30-acre plots.

Are there any Clear Cut Answers?
Student Worksheet

Names _______

You have each been given a card explaining your role in developing a management plan for this forest. Work as a group to answer these following questions. Then, use the information to develop your management plan. Each person in your group will be able to answer some of the questions from the information on his or her role card, or from the forest map.

1. Where would deer live in this forest?
2. What is an edge?
3. How can edges be created?
4. In what kinds of forests are dead trees most often found?
5. Where is the old Douglas fir stand located in this forest?
6. Where might ground squirrels and other small mammals build their dens?
7. Where can deer find food in this forest?
8. What kinds of trees grow best in plenty of sunshine?
9. What kinds of trees prefer shady conditions for growing?
10. What kinds of recreational facilities will be built in this forest?
11. For what city does this national forest serve as a wetland?
12. What is the maximum size the forester wants to have for a single clear cut?
13. Wy should roads not be built in steep areas in forests?
14. What do we mean by sustained yield?
15. What animal(s) would find fewer places to live in this forest if all the dead trees were cut out?
16. Where does Engelmann spruce grow in this forest?
17. where must no cutting be done in the forest in order to preserve a healthy watershed?
18. How many acres of Douglas fir and lodgepole pine are there in the forest ?
19. How many acres of Engelmann spruce are there in the forest?
20. How many acres should not be cut in the forest according to the Watershed Manager?
21. How many total acres of the forest can be logged?
22. If the forester clear cuts 125 acres of Douglas fir, how much Engelmann spruce could be cut?
23. Which way should trails or roads be cut along a hillside?

Lesson V - For the Enjoyment of Future Generations
(Grades 6-12, Duration 1-2 periods)

Materials:
-copies of role cards

Skills:
-classifying
-analyzing
-hypothesizing
-communicating
-problem solving

Objectives: By the end of the investigations, students should be able to:
-define carrying capacity and explain the effects of different animal population sizes on the habitat
-predict the effects of certain environmental changes on a wildlife population

Background:
This investigation is designed to help your students understand the interrelationships of organisms within the environment and the complexity of managing resources. There are no easy solutions. The best solution provides the greatest good for the greatest number of people and wildlife while also considering the importance of conserving our natural resources.

Setting the Stage:
Begin this investigation by introducing your students to a hypothetical problem of managing a large herd of elk in a national park. The elk are protected in the park and ten to be somewhat less shy of people and more commonly seen than they generally are in the wild. They attract visitors to the park, but the size of the herd s a problem. The park presently has a population of about 1,800 elk but it can support only 800 elk on a year round basis without harming the habitat. The elk eat a variety of foods including the leaves and twigs of aspen. Over browsing is destroying the aspen in the park, Other tree species are being affected, although to a lesser extent. Some biology researchers feel the elk population must be reduced or the aspen in the park will be completely destroyed in ten years. This would adversely affect other animals, such as beaver and deer, that also depend on aspen for food. In summer, the elk can feed on extensive range high in the alpine tundra in the park. In winter, however, snow prevents the elk from feeding on this range and there are few other areas in the park where abundant food is available to them. The elk are overfeeding on the available winter range and damaging the vegetation. The herd's seasonal movement to feeding areas outside the park is restricted by the human population living in nearby towns and by hunters in the fall. Because hunting is not allowed in national parks, the elk tend to stay within the park boundaries where they are protected from people who hunt in areas surrounding the park. Elk compete with other wildlife for available habitat in the park. The park supports mule deer, bighorn sheep and many small animals, such as beaver, gopher and ptarmigan. A few cougars live in the park, but the absence of other predators of the elk, such as wolves and grizzlies, contributes to the overpopulation problem.

Procedure:

1. Divide your class into small groups. Each group must work together to find a solution to the problem of overpopulation of elk in the national park.

2. Allow your students twenty minutes to come up with as many different ways to solve the problem as they can. Try not to limit their thinking in any way. These questions may help them in the process:
a. What can we do to decrease the number of elk in the park?
b. What ways to decrease the population involve the least obvious human intervention?

3. After twenty minutes, write all of their solutions to the problem on the board. Use the following questions to discuss each solution:
a. Which plans do you think will not work? Why?
b. What additional information do you need to decide whether each is possible or not possible? (Make a list of this information.)
c. Which plan seems to be the most effective way of dealing with the problem? Why?

4. Now, give a set of the role cards on the next page to each group. Each group should analyze the roles and answer these questions:
a. Which solutions suggested in the role cards are similar to those suggested by the group?
b. Which statements made by each person are facts and which are opinions? (Make them aware that sometimes opinions begin with phrases such as "Some people think", "I think", and "I feel".)
c. Which of the solutions suggested in the role cards appears to be the best?
d. Can you combine your solution and solutions suggested on the role cards to form an even better solution? What is it?

5. Once each group has analyzed the roles and come up with another solution or confirmed the group's first solution, have each group present its solution to the other members of the class. Discuss each solution and allow other class members to ask questions.

6. The class should now vote to decide which solution appears to be the best. Their choice may be the original solution, one of the solutions arrived at after reviewing role cards or a combination of two or more. Make sure the class as a whole is given the option of deciding to reject all or to combine parts of several solutions into one choice.

Evaluation: These questions may be used to summarize the investigation:

1. Are there any contradictions in the individual statements made on the role cards?

2. Look at each statement. Are there enough facts in each one to make an intelligent assessment? What other facts do you need to make an intelligent assessment? What information on the role cards do students feel they needed when they suggested their first solutions?

3. How, if at all, are the statements on the role cards biased?

4. Are there some choices that appear effective as a short term solution, but present some long term problems? What are these long-term problems?

As a follow-up, you may want to invite a wildlife manager from your local area to your class to discuss the problem as it relates to your locality. A similar wildlife management problem may exist in a local park or wildlife refuge.

Extension:
This investigation is based on actual problems that Yellow-stone and Rocky Mountain National Parks have had. Students may want to research National Park Service park management policy for these situations and compare official policies to the decisions that the class made in their votes.

Role Cards: These should be cut apart for use in the activity

President of "Elks Alive"
"We think the only solution is to relocate the extra elk to other habitats around the country. Elk once occupied areas where they are not now present. We could raise funds to carry on the relocation this year. It will cost us $200 per elk, but we could provide the funds with which to live-trap the elk and move them elsewhere. We're not sure that we could pay for relocation year after year, though. A hunting season should not be started in the park. Overpopulation of animals sometimes results from certain management practices, such as planting feed for animals or setting out hay and other food for them. If we start a hunting season in the park, that management style might continue and force the park to have a hunting season every year. This might interfere with the enjoyment of visitors to the park because the elk in the park will be more shy of people. Our national parks are set up to be places where people can go to see wildlife and we think those opportunities should be preserved at all costs."

Owner of the Local Photography Shop
"I depend on tourist trade here in my business and elk are a big attraction in this park. If we don't get visitors here to see the elk, we won't be able to make a living but the hunters have a tendency to kill all the "pet" elk that pose for pictures. This gives hunters a bad name and causes some of us a lot of personal grief. Starting a hunting season in the park would also set a bad precedent. What if we start doing that in other parks as well? There should be some places left for people who want to see animals. Hunters already have plenty of places to hunt."

Wildlife Manager
"There are many different ways to solve this problem and we have to find the best way. We could have a regulated hunting season. We could have park rangers live-trap or sedate the elk and move them some place else. Although we could try to reintroduce the elk's natural predators, such as wolves, cougars and grizzly bears, research has shown that with few exceptions, predators are unable to regulate the large numbers of prey in parks. Another problem is that the bears and the wolves could create a threat to people and could be animals that visitors might not like to have in the park. However, reintroducing predators along with an elk removal program might help control the elk and reestablish a natural predator-prey relationship."

Park Superintendent
"We can't reintroduce grizzly bears to the park because they would serve as a threat to people. While the park can support some wolves, it is not big enough to support a wolf population that's large enough to control the elk population. Besides that, the wolves might prey on other species such as bighorn sheep, deer and beaver which are also protected in the park. Live-trapping was tried in other areas, but all the other elk habitat is also full. We really don't have any other place to put them. Besides, live-trapping is too expensive. We just don't have enough money."

Wildlife Biologist
"We must remove at least 1,000 of the elk from the park or the aspen and other vegetation they eat will be destroyed, not only on the winter range, but if the herd continues to grow, on the summer range, as well. Other kinds of wildlife in the park that eat aspen will also be affected. Beavers need aspen too. Without aspen, the beaver population will disappear and that's just one of the species the elk are affecting. There are several different ways to solve the problem, but we have to find the one that works best for this park, We could try to acquire other range areas for winter feeding. Hunting is recommended in many areas by wildlife managers, and it is an effective means of helping to control overpopulation. Live-trapping is recommended in other areas. I think we should trap the elk and then kill them. The meat can be given to charity and trappings will not cause the other elk to become afraid of human beings. National parks were set up to be places where people can go to see wildlife and a hunting season in this case may not be the best solution since it might make the elk less tolerant of people."

Local Farmer
"We must do something about the elk. They are eating the hay I harvest for my livestock. I don't like the idea of introducing predators-mountain lions, wolves and grizzly bears-into the area. If you bring predators into this areas, they're going to get to my livestock. That's going to hurt me economically and it may even pose a threat to my family. I don't want these dangerous animals in the area and I certainly don't want them near my livestock and family. Why not just have an open hunting season?"

Park Ranger
"They tried a hunting season in Grand Teton National Park and it didn't work because not enough hunters would participate in a hunt that was so tightly regulated. Also, once elk are shot in the park, the herd is less tolerant of humans and not as readily observed by park visitors. In this way, hunting would interfere with the enjoyment of park visitors who want to see the elk. Why not allow the park rangers to selectively trap, move, and kill the extra elk in the park? The wildlife biologists and managers could recommend which elk we should shoot and the meat could be given to charity or schools."

President of "Hunters for Conservation"
"My organization is willing to help participate in a hunt in the park to reduce the number of elk. The people within our organization are extremely responsible and concerned about conservation of all kinds of animals. We can work with the park authorities and state fish and wildlife representatives to set up the best kind of hunting situation, and I think we should open the park to hunters even though hunting is not normally allowed in our national parks. This would not only cut down on the number of elk in the park, but the hunters coming in to participate would spend more money on the local economy."