As a result of the cumulative interaction of several forces the demand pressures on outdoor recreation space and facilities in North America are increasing rapidly. The forces at work are those of population growth and urbanization, rising levels of per-capita income, leisure and mobility, the use of space-consuming recreational equipment, and the rise of the tourist-recreation industry. The supply, in terms of outdoor space and amenities, with the range of requisite site facilities, is limited, and the necessity of careful planning for recreational land use becomes increasingly apparent. There are conflicts between public and private interests, between various adjacent or simultaneous uses of land for recreation, between the agencies which provide the facilities through which recreation land is used, and between recreation and non-recreation land uses. On the assumption that the forces making for these conflicting pressures will continue, the hypothesis is proposed, that regional planning should provide an optimum balance between public, private-commercial, private-collective and private-individual types of recreation site development. This basically normative approach makes necessary a descriptive survey and evaluation of the four types of agency and their respective effects on the physical, economic, legal-administrative and social background of the region in which they occur. It also requires a consideration of the public interest as a norm within which the goals of outdoor-recreation planning may be established, and an analysis of the optimizing processes which are or might be the methological basis of planning. Two basic approaches to the problem of defining the public interest are exposed: one seeking to define it substantively as a particular state of affairs; the other seeking procedural or operational conditions which will generate it. In the latter case the processes of decision-making are of prior importance in leading toward the public interest, a concept which is itself left undefined in terms of concrete value content. It appears that the conflict-resolving process must be a process of balancing or harmonizing a wide range of values, including those of initiative in decision-making as well as those of concrete results. This balancing of values is called optimizing, since no single value must be maximized at the expense of others when each has a valid claim. The survey and analysis indicate that each of the four agencies for outdoor recreation site development In North America has a valid role to play in providing recreation and other benefits, given planning direction. The public interest in regional land-use planning, therefore, lies in optimizing recreation benefits, which in turn requires an optimum balance between public, private-commercial, private-collective and private individual types of site development. The hypothesis, insofar as it implies that planning can optimize recreation land-use on the regional scale, is not valid, since, although the region seems, prima facie, to be the appropriate unit in scale, there are many publics, and many interests in outdoor recreation which transcend regional limits. A true optimum, therefore, even within a region, is more likely to be achieved by national and even international planning of recreation resources. This limited investigation could be extended by further theoretical analysis and by field research, particularly in the form of attitude and other surveys of the impact of new recreation development on local communities. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Improved techniques for forecasting land needs for urban development are required with continuing population and economic growth for the provision of adequate services at reasonable cost. Current local forecasting techniques exclude the direct measurement of land used in industrial activities and its correlation with industrial production. With continuing technological improvements in industrial processes it is likely that the relation between land and output will vary and particularly in the manufacturing industries. A review of the Petroleum Refining Industry's experience by a direct mailed questionnaire to all Lower Mainland of B.C. refiners indicated a declining importance of land in relation to output over the last two decades. Trends in refinery output, employment, and land in active use, show an increasing productivity of both land and labor. The increase in productivity of manufacturing land exceeded that of labor over the past twenty years in this industry group. A conceptual comparison was made between two types of forecast where, in one, the factor of increasing output per unit of land was excluded. The comparison was inexact since somewhat different industries were compared. However, it appeared that over a twenty-year period the exclusion of the productivity of land factor in the example could lead to significantly different results. The difference between the techniques was an indicated requirement of 1200 acres versus 600 acres in total land needed up to 1980 by the industry group. Before the factor of land productivity in manufacturing and other industries can be adequately considered changes are required in the methods of collecting statistics. These changes would enable a correlation between output, employment, population, and land within the urban area. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Like most young colonies, British Columbia in 1858 was economically undeveloped. Nevertheless, the colony possessed a valuable natural resource in its public lands which might be sold to raise additional revenue, or given to immigrants in place of financial aid. Unfortunately, geography limited the immediate value of the Grown Lands and made settlement extraordinarily difficult. While attempting to define a successful land-settlement policy for British Columbia, the government could not ignore the instructions from Great Britain that the colony was to become self-supporting as soon as possible. Sales of land were therefore expected to be an important source of revenue. Unfortunately, the unstable mining population cared little for farming. The indifference of the miners and the inability of the government to confine the mining population within the limits of surveyed land brought about a gradual reduction in the price of land. Although it was originally intended that the Wakefield system should be applied to British Columbia, the proximity of the United States made the adoption of the pre-emption system inevitable. While intended as a temporary measure the pre-emption system was adopted in 1860 and remained on the statute books throughout the colonial period. The question of free grants of land was widely discussed in British Columbia during the colonial period after the passage of the Homestead Act of 1862 in the United States. However, the lack of surveyed land resulting from the financial and geographical problems of the colony made its adoption impossible. The pre-emption system was therefore the main feature of the colony’s land-settlement policy from 1858 until Confederation. New Westminster was the only district on the mainland in which country land was sold at auction. In that district, by 1868, of the 83,440 acres of surveyed land offered for sale, 27,797 acres had been bought. Of this amount not more than 250 acres had been brought under cultivation. By 1868 a total of 1696 pre-emption claims had been recorded of which 6000 acres had been brought under cultivation. Throughout the colonial period agriculture remained secondary to mining and it is probable that the discoveries of gold had much more influence upon farming than the actual land-settlement policy of the government. The best justification for the pre-emption system is the fact that it allowed settlers in the vicinity of the mines and beyond the limits of surveyed land to produce for the local market. Although the absence of a free-grant system was blamed by some for the slow growth of settlement, they failed to discern that settlers who pre-empted in many parts of the colony enjoyed the benefits of a free grant. For, since the government was financially unable to survey their land, no payment was required. Yet to make agriculture a parmanent and substantial industry, some confidence in the prosperity of the colony, such as that promised by Confederation with its guarantee of railway connections, was needed to support the pre-emption system. Farmers in the upper country were the chief support of the colony in the depression of 1867. On the other hand the lower Fraser Valley was still dependent upon imported food; for in that district uncertainty as to the future of the colony had hindered the investment of capital which was needed to clear and drain the land, In addition to a pre-emption claim the settler in British Columbia, after 1865, was entitled to a pastoral lease. Although no uniform policy was adopted in granting these leases, the average lease ran for a period of five years at the rate of 4¢ an acre. The fine quality of the bunch grass in the interior of the colony coupled with the government regulations concerning its use resulted in a decrease in the list of imported meat. That the colony had to import meat at all can be blamed not upon the system of pastoral leases adopted by the Government but rather upon the ever-present difficulties of transportation. It was impossible to drive cattle down the Cariboo Road to the lower mainland markets because of the dangerous route and scarcity of food. During the colonial period the revenue gained from the sale of surveyed land and town lots was insignificant compared with that received from custom duties and road tolls. In the year 1870, it contributed only a little more than one-fortieth of the total revenue of the colony. After 1871 Confederation and the promise of a railway diverted the colonial government's point of view from the land policy of the United States to that of the Canadian Government. In 1873 British Columbia adopted the rectangular system of surveying as used by the Dominion Government in Manitoba. In the following year it adopted a system of free grants similar to that contained in the Dominion Lands Act of 1872. Although nothing could have been more liberal- than the free-grant system provided for by the Land Act of 1874, its influence upon the settlement of the province in the period under consideration was negligible. In other words the charge often made during the colonial period that the absence of a free grant system hindered the settlement of the colony was erroneous. The rapid settlement of the province in those early years was beyond the unaided power of any land-settlement policy. The transcontinental railway was badly needed to overcome the isolation of the Pacific province. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

Kaiser Resources Limited is extracting coal from a major strip mining operation near Sparwood, B.C. In spite of the recognized economic benefits which accrue from this mine, serious consideration must he given to its potential deleterious effects. Problem areas include accelerated erosion, water pollution, danger of slides and a barren landscape in and around the mine. A reclamation program has been initiated to minimize these problems. It includes land-use planning, physical alteration of topography, revegetation and subsequent tending of reclaimed land. This thesis is related to the revegetation aspect of the above program in that it investigates the feasibility of establishing and growing coniferous trees on overburden. Development of plantations on these mine wastes fits well into the overall reclamation plan as seventy percent of the area to be reclaimed is best suited to growing trees. In addition, trees provide a suitable long-term means of minimizing erosion and pollution. Field work carried out to provide necessary data included the establishment of spring and fall replications of ten sample plots on mined sites around Michel and Natal. One plot was also set out on a small inactive area at the high elevation mine site on Harmer Ridge. The plots were situated and designed so that the effects of site, elevation, species choice, type of planting and time of planting on survival and growth could be studied. Planting was carried out during September 1970 and May 1971. The final collection of data took place during May 1972. Results indicate that trees are suitable for use in the revegetation of the residuals of the Kaiser mine. Analysis reveals spring planting survival to be much higher than that obtained from fall planting. Trees grown in the organic soil plug prototype container show better survival and growth than do bare-root seedlings or stock grown in plastic bullets. The optimum age of planting stock appears to be two years. Trees were successfully established over a wide range of elevations. Of the three species planted, Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine and Engelmann spruce, lodgepole pine did best between elevations of 3500 to 5000 feet. Above 5000 feet Engelmann spruce gave superior results. High mortality occurred on compacted sites and south facing slopes. Successful reforestation of compacted areas will require some form of site preparation to take place prior to planting. Plants other than trees, such as shrubs and grasses, should be used to regenerate south slopes. Successful plantation establishment will be dependent upon the control of both erosion and accidental damage. Proper planning at the highest management level will be required to minimize accidental damage while a variety of site preparation techniques will have to be utilized to control erosion. Further studies of reclamation problems are still required to ensure successful long-term results. Future research possibilities are therefore suggested. / Forestry, Faculty of / Graduate

Mexican Land Reform, conceived during the civil war and initiated in the Revolutionary Code of 1917, is responsible for the existence today of three different farming groups. These are the particulares, the private farmers, the ejidatarios, the peasant farmers, and the colonos, the colonist farmers. This study is concerned with the relative fortunes of the three, and especially with the largest numerically, the ejidatarios. This last group has been regarded, and is still so considered, as the worst off. The plight of the ejidatarios seems to be even more acute in modernized areas according to State and national statistics. It is hypothesized here that certain aspects of the Mexican Land Reform work against the better interests of the ejidatarios, particularly in areas where modernized agricultural practices have become the norm. The hypothesis is tested in one of the agriculturally most advanced areas in all Mexico, the Rio Fuerte Irrigation District of Northern Sinaloa. Within this District the performance of the Mexican ejido, peasant holding, is compared with that of the private property farm. The comparison begins with an investigation of all cropping activities in the District, designed to establish the broad differences in performance between the ejidal and private farm groups (Chapter III). It is found:- that the ejidal sector operates its cropland less intensively than the private sector; that the ejidatarios do not compensate for their poorer resource use by obtaining crop yields and prices markedly superior to those of the private sector; and that the ejidatarios obtain a much lower gross income per hectare than the private farmers. In the second stage of comparison, a sample of farms is taken from the most productive sub-area in the District, in order to test the hypothesis and to try to isolate the primary factors hindering the ejidal sector (Chapter IV). The farms selected consist of the ejidal plots where wheat is cultivated in the main crop rotation; and for the purposes of comparing net incomes, wheat-growing private and colono farms are also sampled. It is found that the mean net income per hectare is much lower in the ejidal than in the other two sectors. This cannot be entirely explained by poorer quality land resources, ineptitude, lack of hybrid seed or fertilizer, or by shortage of irrigation water. Nor can it be entirely explained by its somewhat poorer overall yield. Rather is the problem found to be in the nature of the ejidatarios' credit source, the Ejidal Banks, and the operational constraints associated with that source's loan policy. It is shown that the cost of ejidal farm operation is unnecessarily high, because the ejidatarios are not permitted efficient use of their own labour resources; hired labour and machinery are supplied by the Banks to the ejidatarios to cultivate their land and these inappropriated high-cost inputs are charged within the loans given., It is concluded that overmuch modernization is being forced upon the peasant farmers, to the ultimate detriment of their farm's viability, their personal income and living levels, and also that the hypothesis is correct:- The Agrarian Reform Laws have indeed led to operational difficulties and considerable depression of the peasant farmer's net income, though the particular credit system evolved was actually created to benefit him. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

A land use management study was conducted in an area of north eastern Chitawan in central Nepal. Changes in soil properties, forest and agricultural productivity, farm management and profitability were compared among ten land use categories. The research revealed that the most intensively managed agricultural land, under annual triple crop rotations had excellent productivity with little evidence of soil deterioration (pH, organic carbon, exchangeable bases). Several soil properties (pH, base saturation, available phosphorus, compaction) under such farming systems were found to be better than those under degraded forest. The degradation of the forests, as measured by wood biomass, regeneration and soil quality was found to be widespread. A 15 to 30 percent decline in timber, fuelwood and fodder was observed between the natural and degraded forest. This removal of forest products was accompanied by changes in soil properties such as exchangeable bases, pH, compaction and exchangeable and free aluminum. Alternative land uses were evaluated using a decision making method which considered crop preferences, productivity, gross margins, resource requirements, soil quality indicators and risk factors. Data from farm interviews and from the soil study were incorporated into this micro-computer based method. The data evaluation showed that soil conserving and productive land use options were not always feasible for the small farmer because they were more risky and required more resources of irrigated land, labour and operating capital. Interesting relationships were found between soil properties, productivity, land uses and fertility inputs. The flexibility of the methodology makes this technique an attractive tool for land use decision making at the farm and village level. The mapping units used for the national Land Resource Mapping Project (LRMP) formed the basis for this study and the approach developed can therefore be applied to other areas in Nepal. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

The complexity and turbulence of the twentieth century is reflected in the increasing size and number of government agencies, leading to overlapping responsibilities, competition, and conflict in the field of planning. Multiple jurisdictions with conflicting goals have stimulated the need for productive rather than symbolic interorganizational structures. Local land-use planning is one field where uncoordinated land-use decisions are particularly harmful to the public interest. In Canada, this planning is thought to be controlled by the local government's planning staff under the direction of elected officials. However, this belief ignores the reality of the jurisdictional independence of provincial and federal government agencies. Within a local planning area, these independent agencies are free to use their land to meet their own perceived responsibilities, regardless of local land-use policies. The varied responsibilities and objectives of land-use decision-making organizations have led to interorganizational conflict, incompatible adjacent land uses, ineffective regional plans, and missed opportunities for efficient cooperative planning. It is hypothesized that an interorganizational structure (ios) specifically designed according to theoretically-derived criteria would provide an effective mechanism for reduction of planning conflicts and promotion of cooperative local land-use planning, and would be superior to the existing reliance on ad hoc arrangements. The thesis first examines the contextual relationship between the local planner and one representative independent agency, the Department of National Defence. This is followed by case studies which illustrate both land-use conflicts and cooperative actions currently arising between two DND bases and their neighbouring communities in British Columbia. The thesis next explores the nature of interorganizational relations in terms of group dynamics, social psychology of negotiations, and interorganizational power struggles. This relationships theory is fundamental to understanding the dynamics of an ios. This theoretical understanding of interorganizational relations,, plus the practical, considerations revealed by the case studies, provide the framework for development of ios criteria. The criteria are compared against existing models of interorganizational planning and decision-making to test their validity. These criteria are used to design an ios model for local land-use planning in British Columbia. Finally, the ios model is applied to the case studies using realistic scenarios to determine its effect on interorganizational cooperation. It is shown that the ios would be much more effective at providing both opportunities and reduced risk for cooperation than does the existing situation. Organizations will make use of these opportunities whenever they will benefit from doing so. This will occur more frequently in the ios designed according to theoretically-derived criteria than otherwise. While the ios is designed for a specific situation, the criteria are soundly developed from both theory and the case studies and provide the basis for design of similar mechanisms for land-use planning anywhere in Canada. Furthermore, the understanding gained here contributes to our limited knowledge in the crucial field of interorganizational relations. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Ecological land classification refers to an integrated survey in which areas of land, as ecosystems, are classified according to their ecological unity. In Canada, the approach was first advanced, nationally, in 1969 and was termed 'Bio-physical Land Classification'. This approach, which was derived from several foreign and domestic precedents, has been employed by various independent survey organizations throughout Canada to secure an ecological data bases for resource planning and management consideration. Because coordination was lacking between these organizations, modifications of this approach have taken place independently and often have been weighted according to the investigator's personal interests or capabilities. As such, the approach currently possesses a disparate character which is difficult to define singularly. To identify the current status in methodology, Canadian works in this field were comparatively analyzed. One result which stands out prominently from the analysis is that there are multifarious forms of ecological land classification. While they tend to achieve the same results, and demonstrate numerous commonalities land ecosystems have been manifested by combinations of criteria which are not always the same. Considerable confusion surrounds the nomenclature, the criteria for definitions and the criteria for recognition. Based on the analysis, hierarchical categories eco- province, ecoregion, ecodistrict, ecosection and ecotype are proposed. These are land ecosystems which possess a common recognized identity based on a unified pattern of biological and physical land characteristics. Each category coincides with a different order of generalization. Based largely on material extracted from past studies, criteria for recognition are stated. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

No description available.

Includes bibliographic references. / This research develops a pro-poor prenuptial agreement as an innovative land tenure tool to secure rights in urban subsidized housing. The model tested is confined to prenuptial agreements under the Marriage Act, but is relevant to other cohabitation or marital agreements that could be used to secure social tenure arising from intimate relationships. The model aims at securing the tenure of the entire household, in particular the more vulnerable members of the household. The research focuses on urban State -subsidized housing, with an emphasis on the Western Cape, South Africa. This housing is transferred to beneficiaries by registration of individual or co-ownership at the Deeds Registry, with the title deeds public documents. While prenuptial agreements are not usually regarded as a land tenure tool, the fact that they are also public documents registered at the Deeds Office makes them pertinent. A limited dataset of recent academic writing is analysed to identify the social context of household conflict and tenure insecurity, and existing legal template clauses assessed. The prenuptial template design is predicated on current tenure approaches that regard informal practices as equally relevant for the poor's tenure security as the formal law. The template uses various strategies to manage tenure insecurity arising from the death of an owner, disputes, or threatened eviction of dependents. It also aims to ensure that diverse normative beliefs are respected, particularly African normative systems. A personal servitude is used to secure housing tenure as a real right burdening the land, making this a very secure right. In addition the template includes a succession agreement and dispute resolution mechanisms. The template model is tested on clients simulated by re-storying the facts of two seminal Constitutional Court cases and a recent case study of another researcher. Focus groups are held with housing beneficiaries and interviews with housing officials, as a preliminary test of the private and public reception of such agreements. The need for legal aid is discussed. The research makes clear that cohabitation and marital agreements can be used to secure overlapping land rights that the ownership paradigm does not currently protect.