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Land Use 
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- Stateline Story
Arizona Can’t Divert Land Trust Fund, Court Rules
The Arizona Legislature violated the constitution when it tapped a trust fund earmarked for education to help plug the state’s budget gap, the Arizona Supreme Court has ruled.
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Wildfire Epidemic Leaves States Searching for Answers
The West is getting hotter and drier and stoking more destructive fires. They have left fire control officials looking for ways to fight them more effectively with fewer dollars. more
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Arizona Ballot Measure Challenges the Federal Government Over Public Lands
Most western states remain uncomfortable with federal stewardship of their land. A group of activists wants to rewrite the Arizona constitution to change the rules. more
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- Stateline Story
New Jersey's Waiver Wars
Governor Chris Christie is seeking to make New Jersey’s tough regulatory climate more business-friendly, but environmental groups say his new waiver rule goes too far.
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Obama Administration Reverses Policy on Wild Lands
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT BEAT: The Obama administration moved last year to designate more federal lands as off-limits to most development. But facing opposition from governors and Congress, the policy lasted only six months. more
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- Stateline Story
Conservation Cutbacks Force States to Pass on Buyers' Market
With the housing bust driving down land prices, this is the perfect time for states to boost their conservation efforts. But the recession has forced states to cut funding for land acquisition and to pull back from bond sales. The cutbacks point to a dilemma that often bedevils state land programs: Conservation is easiest to fund when times are good but when land prices are the highest. more
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- Stateline Story
Sagebrush Stirrings
Western states are launching a new round in their periodic challenge to Washington over the use of federally owned land. Authors of the challenge say they mean their effort to be more than a symbolic gesture. Others are skeptical that it will have much effect on federal policy. more
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- Stateline Story
Oregonians reconsider land-use measure
Three years ago, Oregonians voted to give themselves unprecedented property rights. Now the state's citizens are trying to decide whether to roll back those rights.more -
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Ethanol Demand Outgrows Corn
Corn is king of renewable auto fuels, for now. But federal and state governments already are racing to find alternatives to corn as they look for ways to use ethanol to help break the nation's dependence on foreign oil.more -
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Voters Set to Judge Property Rights
Voters in 12 states - starting in Louisiana this weekend - will decide this election year whether to curb government's eminent domain powers, while those in four states will consider whether government should pay when one of its regulations lowers property values.more -
- Stateline Story
Open Space Questioned As Anti-Sprawl Tool
Your local playground, county park, preserved farm, state forest or national monument came at a high price and may serve an important purpose, but theres scant hard evidence to prove that it's stopping sprawl as advertised, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution. more
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- Stateline Story
Farm Links Cultivate New Generation
Web sites like HotJobs and Monster.com offer employers and career seekers thousands of opportunities to find each other every day, but you likely wont find listings on them for one of the nations most visible and time-honored occupations: Farming more
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- Stateline Story
States Call For Block Grants in 2002 Farm Bill
Wyoming agriculture director Ron Micheli doesn't believe a "one-size-fits-all farm bill" works for every farmer and rancher in his state, much less the whole country. So he has joined with other state agriculture officials to recommend that Congress adopt a limited block grant approach to doling out federal agriculture dollars. more
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- Stateline Story
Governors Push Conservation On Private Lands
The $17.6 billion that voters in state and local elections have approved for land purchases since 1998 is a powerful index of citizens concern for the environment, but buying up open space wont accomplish enough on its own, a key group of governors said this month at a land policy summit hosted by the National Governors Association (NGA) in Washington, DC. more
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- Stateline Story
State Brownfields Programs Take National Stage
When Kentuckys Democratic-controlled House and Republican-led Senate both voted unanimously to expand brownfields programs last week, they committed the Bluegrass State to a decade-long push to make investment in cleaning up abandoned industrial sites more attractive to private redevelopers. They also signed on to one of the few nationwide environmental causes to generate real interest in both major political parties since Congress first acted to protect natural resources and public health and set up the Environmental Protection Agency over 30 years ago. more
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- Stateline Story
State Lawmakers Concerned About Lack of Focus on Farm Issues
Farmers may be wondering if there's room left in the "new economy" for them after listening to the nation's governors deliver their State of the State addresses this year. The state of American agriculture garnered barely a mention amid all the talk about commitments to education, technology development, and holding the line on government spending. Only three governors -- Judy Martz of Montana, Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho and John Hoeven of North Dakota -- devoted much time to it. more
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- Stateline Story
Statewide Growth Measures Loom Large On Tuesday's Ballot
It should not be surprising that 2000 would yield another bumper crop of growth-related statewide ballot measures, rooted as most are in the anti-sprawl fever feeding voter interest in local elections. Voters in 22 states will weigh in on how to channel growth through 35 statewide measures, according to a new report released by the Brookings Institute. Local ballots will offer residents "hundreds" of additional opportunities to shape their cities and counties. more
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- Stateline Story
Delay Of Inventory Leaves Sprawls Pace In Question
Federal data released nearly a year ago that shows an alarming state-by-state disappearance of open space remains unverified after the discovery of a computer error in March cast doubt on its validity. Federal officials now say say state and local planners and others waiting for corrected data will have to keep waiting at least until the end of the year. more
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- Stateline Story
Sprawl Spurs Tucson Search For Urban Cowboy
Looking to corral development, Tucson, Ariz., took over a 41,000-acre ranch 10 miles outside city limits. In the meantime, Tucson needs one tough son of a gun to tend to 84 head of cattle. more
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- Stateline Story
California Caucus Stokes 'Smart Growth' Debate
As a rallying cry, "smart growth" can be a political chameleon, adapting to suit the land use visions of preservationists, home and road builders, local governments, mass transit advocates, environmentalists, Republicans or Democrats but rarely all of them at once. Earlier this year, a group of powerful Democrats in the California legislature organized themselves around the idea, staking a claim to the smart growth mantle in a state that could welcome as many as 24 million new residents over the next 40 years. more