Resource Management:
Land Use in and Around the Lake Pontchartrain Basin

Objectives:

• List past and present land use practices in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin and understand their relationship to population size.

• Develop mapping and map reading skills as they apply to land use planning and resource allocation.

• Understand the relationship of cause and effect and to be able to accurately interpret graphs which contain land use and resource allocation data.

• Broaden our perspectives by assuming another's point of view regarding the value of a particular commodity (in this case land use).

• Increase understanding of land use problems by researching and defending a point of view not necessarily the student's own.

• Develop the ability to construct rational arguments and to articulate them in a well thought out manner.

Multiple Intelligences Learning Activities:

Activity: Understanding Land Use Practices
A Map Reading and GIS Exercise

Procedure:

1. Duplicate and distribute copies of Worksheet 1 and the associated GIS map(s) in the Appendix. Transparencies of the worksheets and maps work well as teaching aids.

2. Begin by reading items from the section entitled "Notice" to the students (Worksheet 1) and promoting discussion by exploring the possible relationships of map-related questions to the ideas listed under the section entitled "Consider", and by suggesting avenues available for further research ("Research"' section) .

3. Encourage students to further explore topics related to maps and land use considerations by showing them examples of "starting points" which the educator has already located and/or obtained from the library. Outline possible directions to take when attempting literature searches in the library (e.g., periodicals, journals, books, non-print media, Internet resources).

The term "land use" refers to the many possible ways in which we manipulate our environment by using natural resources. For example, land use practices can be understood as the many ways in which we use land; agricultural areas, natural (undisturbed) areas, parks, urban areas, etc.

[Please refer to Appendix for GIS (geographic information system) maps]

GIS maps can be used to graphically illustrate a number of pertinent features about a given geographic area. These data are graphically over-laid upon an existing map and "locked-down" by geo-referencing the data to a specific latitude and longitude. Some examples of data geo-referenced to area maps are: Vegetation patterns (distribution and types), Land use patterns (agricultural vs. urban vs. wetlands, etc.), Temperature gradients, Soil characteristics, Various urban characteristics (e.g. streets, power grids, voting districts, economic distribution, etc.)

"Land use" also refers to the particular strategy an individual, or group of individuals applies to the utilization of natural resources. One might consider the land use practices of a nomadic people to be low-impact and self-sustaining, as is usually the case. On the other hand, a highly industrialized society often uses natural resources with an avariciousness sometimes bordering upon the absurd... as if natural resources will never be completely consumed, or that the problem can be dealt with by later generations.

Let's consider our own society, and even more specifically, our own region of the state. As one can see from the GIS maps, land use patterns in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin have changed dramatically from the 1950s to the 1990s.

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Why do you suppose land use patterns have changed so much?

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What are the most noticeable changes that have occurred during this time period?

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How do you think the changes in the amount and kinds of land we now have affects pollution levels in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin and, as a direct result, our overall environmental quality?

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Most libraries will contain excellent resources to use as a starting point for further exploration of this topic, both in traditional books and journals as well as Internet publications. Keywords for searching are: land use, conservation biology, resource management, GIS (geographic information systems), human population ecology, population explosion.

There is undeniably one single, dominant cause directly responsible for the drastic changes in our land use practices and hence the environmental quality of our surroundings.

Think about it. When our population was relatively small, say back before European settlers came to Louisiana, there was virtually no pressure upon our ecosystems. Native peoples took only what they needed and managed to live harmoniously with their surroundings. As people began to settle down and live in groups, cities like New Orleans were founded. The need to convert nearby land to agricultural and livestock farms grew as the demand for these products grew. Pressure on the environment increased. Still, there were few enough people and enough land around them to serve as a buffer zone that no appreciable impact was felt. From the mid 1700s until the mid 1800s (the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the U.S.) the population began to rise at a much faster rate. After World War II, sudden and dramatic developments in technology allowed an unheralded increase in population size. This worldwide increase in population has resulted in wholesale changes to, and unprecedented pressures upon, our remaining natural areas.

An excellent population explosion resource for teachers can be found in the video "Zero Population Growth" which has a total running time of only 7 1/2 minutes. Available through Zero Population Growth Foundation.

The global population increase over time is depicted graphically in the chart below.

Adapted from: Meserovic, Mihajlo, and Eduard Pestel. (1974). Mankind at the Turning Point :The Second Report to the Club of Rome. New York: Signet.

While we are still on the upslope of this dramatic curve, and may have a little breathing room, to procrastinate and assume that things will get better on their own is to court disaster. Many experts feel that the sooner we act, the less severe will be our (or our descendants') recovery from the inevitable ecological collapse.

Does there need to be an ecological collapse?

Can our descendants recover without suffering too many hardships or living under a dramatically decreased standard of living?

What will our descendants think of our role as stewards of the environment?

Will our descendants praise our efforts or curse our inadequacies?

Land Use Practices in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin

This quotation from the great Hindu social reformer brings to mind the very crux of our current land use dilemma. If our population levels had remained small, there would be an abundance for all and human impacts upon the environment would remain minimal. As population levels grew, however, some saw that the natural resource "pie" was being divided into ever smaller pieces and decided that the time was right to claim for themselves a larger "slice". This frantic scrambling for resources has triggered a vast array of land use problems... most of them brought about by the desire to exploit a single aspect of our natural resources at the expense of others. There are, of course, many complicated issues involved with the land use controversy.

For Example,
let us consider the single issue of resource management and allocation in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin:

• How far out in the Gulf of Mexico do Louisiana's or America's fishing or mineral rights extend?

• Who deserves the benefits a particular forest on the Northshore: the timber company who owns the land and wants to log it, or the people who live downstream and will suffer greatly reduced water quality and increased flooding if the trees are removed?

• If someone owns the rights to underground minerals and wants to mine them, what is their responsibility in preserving the ecological integrity of the surface area?

• Does a farmer on the Northshore have a responsibility to see that the pesticides and fertilizers he uses do not interfere with the environment 'downstream' of his land?

• Who owns 'state-owned' wetlands and other natural areas? Can the state lease them out without consulting all of us?

These questions and many more like them can form the basis for a number of individual classroom exercises. A convenient format for the presentation of land use topics can be found in the preceding exercise where a worksheet was used to analyze questions and promote further study. In the first exercise listed below a similar format (Worksheet 2) is used to explore the loss of wetland ecosystems due to land use problems. In Worksheet 2 only a single column of information is filled in... Encourage your students to complete the worksheet by supplying ideas for the columns entitled "Consider" and "Research."

Activities: Understanding Land Use Practices The Loss of Wetland Eco Systems in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Associated with Population Increases Home Sweet Home: A Role Playing Exercise

©1998 Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation

Lessons on the Lake is published by the
Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation
Metairie, LA