In Defense of Public Lands: The Case against Privatization and Transfer

by Steven Davis

Debates continue to rage over the merits or flaws of public land and whether or not it should be privatized—or at least, radically reconfigured in some way. In Defense of Public Lands offers a comprehensive refutation of the market-oriented arguments. Steven Davis passionately advocates that public land ought to remain firmly in the public’s hands. He reviews empirical data and theoretical arguments from biological, economic, and political perspectives in order to build a case for why our public lands are an invaluable and irreplaceable asset for the American people.  In Defense of Public Lands briefly lays out the history and characteristics of public lands at the local, state, and federal levels while examining the numerous policy prescriptions for their privatization or, in the case of federal lands, transfer. He considers the dimensions of environmental health; markets and valuation of public land, the tensions between collective values and individual preferences, the nature and performance of bureaucratic management, and the legitimacy of interest groups and community decision-making. Offering a fair, good faith overview of the privatizers’ best arguments before refuting them, this timely book contemplates both the immediate and long-term future of our public lands.

Genres: Nonfiction, Environment, Nature, Politics

264 pages, Paperback

Published May 21, 2018

About the author

Librarians note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Greyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely clear and concise - Davis deals with political, moral, ecological, and light economic arguments in under 200 total pages - with built-in talking points and language easy for the lay-reader. For someone who sees this as a 'duh' issue, it is good to get some more ammo when talking with private-land advocates.

That said, he acknowledges that privatizers operate under a dramatically different paradigm than public land defenders so in this climate it's difficult *not* to talk past one another even with mutual good intent. Also good is that he brings in issues of land access for poor and marginalized groups when talking about public sentiment (though not until near the end) since the predominant lens is self-admittedly white & rich.

Just talked myself into giving this a 5*.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important history and future of federal public land in the United States and the environmental and ecosystem impacts involved. Truly highlights the shortcomings of privatization and libertarianism when it comes to public goods.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

We're screwed 😒. There won't be any private lands left by 2020.

[Michael Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise and well researched look at the reasons our public lands should stay public and some of the logical inconsistency in the privatizers' arguments

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that if I was a brilliant person I would have wanted to write - Davis is fantastic. I'm at low-level fangirl status right now. My research agenda relates to how nonprofit organizations work to preserve public lands. My dissertation was about the narratives used during the Sagebrush Rebellion (it's not that great, as many dissertations are terrible, but I loved it), and I'm hoping to publish that piece soon.

Well-written, extensively researched, and engaging. He makes an excellent case for the continued preservation of public lands.

[Mills College Library]

333.10973 D2644 2018