California S Environmental Movement Works

Land Conservation or Development

Dear Sirs and Madams,

There is a significant amount of statistical data that supports my notion for the resolution of the problem of land development in California. Again, that situation merely involves governmental entities purchasing land and appropriating it for the sake of conservation. However, the statistical data that I previously mentioned certainly makes this solution all the more viable. One of the most notable statistics about the governmental purchasing of land in California is that such a practice has been employed for the past couple of centuries in this state. At present, approximately 25% of the total land in this state is dedicated exclusively to the purpose of conservation (Santos et al., 2014, p. 1). However, there is statistical data dating from 1800 that indicates that the governmental figures have dedicated land for conservation purposes. Although there was little purposing of land for conservation purposes in the first several decades of the 19th century (partially due to the fact that California was not a state for over half of this century, which makes the fact that some land was still dedicated to conservation purposes during that time), the initial hike in land conservation occurred during the latter decades.

Moreover, this spike in conservation continued on into the first couple decades of the 20th century, during the Progressive era when reform was desired in multiple aspects of life all around. From 1880 to just after 1910 approximately 60,000 square kilometers were dedicated as open areas for land conservation (Santos et al., 2014, p. 3). I tis significant to note that this dedication of land for such purposes during this 30-year stretch represents almost six times the amount of land that was utilized for such purposes during the preceding 80 years. Furthermore, the number of properties allotted for conservation spiked up to 30,000, which is many more than the nearly 5,000 properties dedicated for such usage during the preceding 80 years.