Land owned by the government that is subject to sale or other disposal under general laws and is not reserved for any particular governmental or public purpose.
The Future of Public Land Management
As time goes on, we realize that both our national parks and even much of our public lands have become more popular. This means that a large number of people are visiting monuments and other places managed and restored by public funds.
This means that, inevitably, the more visitors to each of these structures or natural monuments, the more investment is required for their conservation. This is necessary for several reasons, firstly, to preserve an important part of the identity and history of the nation. Also, future generations can get to know the most symbolic sites of the country. And finally, a large number of people want these places to conserve their essence, so they will need constant maintenance to achieve this.
Public lands have a variety of functions, from recreational to other more relevant ones
These public lands are not only used as places for recreation and leisure, but also other purposes. On many occasions, the institutions that administer them use them for the realization of various projects for the benefit of the nation. Most of these plans are closely related to preserving the environment through renewable technologies. In other words, a large number of public lands are being used for the energy development of the nation.
Although the institutions in charge of the administration of these spaces are always working to improve them, they may feel limited at times. For example, it is known that nowadays, unlike in other decades, the offices in charge of preserving these places have received a much smaller budget to achieve the maintenance and conservation of the spaces. This jeopardizes the plan to keep them just as they are so that future generations can know the richness and identity of these important places.
Public land protection organizations face new challenges every day
Still, there are several challenges that these organizations must face. Each year there are hundreds of thousands more visits than in previous years. There are also other external factors with which they must contend, for example, climate change and all that it produces in these places. This means that every day they need to develop dynamic plans that can solve the growing problems they face. And usually, the problems present several variables due to the changing conditions that exist in all parts of the world.
With a shrinking budget due to other higher-priority investments, the risk of public lands undergoing drastic changes is greater. The consequences are diverse and can start with just a delay in planned maintenance. This can lead to many more problems because, if these agencies have a large number of projects under development, they will have to decide which ones are a priority and which ones will have to be put on hold indefinitely. Thus, little by little the conservation of the spaces will not be possible and they will begin to change depending on the external factors that affect them.
They not only fight against the delay of projects and maintenance or the dreaded climate change but also against the modification of ecosystems
Several factors are harming not only the shape of public lands but on a much larger scale. Many studies support these claims and one of them is quite alarming because it assures that natural spaces are getting smaller and smaller and have lost a relevant extension and continue to do so more and more every day.
These consequences, of course, also affect the ecosystem, causing the natural habitat of many species to disappear completely and putting them all at risk.
What is wanted for the future of public lands
It has been said on countless occasions that part of the public lands is being used for the development of renewable energies. And these goals are not only for the medium or short term but are intended to ensure a future for generations to come.
Perhaps this is why so much importance is attached to such goals. What is sought for the future is that public lands can be presented as a solution to pollution and can support all types of energy required by the nation for its normal functioning.
This is one of the main reasons why institutions must be able to recognize the importance of respecting the required budget. Perhaps, if the value that public lands can contribute were known, those in power would emphasize the need to comply with the necessary contributions for the fulfillment of the related projects.
However, if things continue as they are now, it will be very difficult to achieve this goal with a shrinking budget. This is why the government must pay special attention to these plans for the development of clean energy to secure it in the future and thus promote the construction of a better country.
