As a strategist, whether I'm talking
to legislators,
environmentalists, or developers, I want to be able to say
what will work. This project tells the story of land
conservation in California in the twentieth century.
Under a clear sky, the bulldozers line up, ready for action. Their target:
the pristine, sun-parched hills of Contra Costa County. Their tracks have
already scarred the landscape, a mere hint of the transformation about to
take place beneath their mechanical muscle.
The bulldozers are silent now, captured in a framed black-and-white photograph on the wall of Daniel Press's office. But the photo could've been taken almost anywhere in California, where open space is disappearing at an alarming rate. Press, an assistant professor of environmental studies, wants to harness the power of local governments to help quiet the roar of the equipment that's paving over paradise.
With major funding from the Environmental Protection Agency, Press has embarked on a five-year study of local-government efforts to designate and preserve open space. Ultimately, Press wants to know what local communities can do to protect the environment over the long-term.
It's a line of inquiry that will become only more valuable as the federal and state governments abandon their roles as preservers of undeveloped land. "The days of the federal government buying land are over. They may do land swaps, but the feds are certainly not going to buy any more land," says Press. "If land is going to be conserved at all, there's going to be a big role for local governments."
Local land-preservation efforts vary widely. Some counties raise local
taxes to buy land, or they create special districts that levy fees on residents
to establish parks, yet others do nothing. So far, the explanation doesn't
appear to be anything obvious, such as household income, county revenues,
political affiliation,
or urban density, says Press.
Even during the height of the Depression in 1934, residents east of San Francisco voted overwhelmingly to tax themselves to establish the East Bay Regional Park District.
With a background in political science, Press is borrowing from that field to explore ideas of "social capital" and "place attachment."
"Every community develops networks of trust and reciprocity, and there's a belief that more tightly woven communities have greater civic engagement and may get better government performance as a result," explains Press, who will also weigh mobility and the factors that affect it, such as how citizens feel about the place they live.
To glean insights, Press will plow through piles of documents and do hundreds of hours of interviews with planners, developers, open-space advocates, landowners, and residents. Press will get some support as cochair of the recently established Pepper-Giberson Chair in Environmental Studies, which he holds with colleague Daniel Doak. Some of those funds will go toward hiring undergraduate and graduate research assistants to work on the enormous task of data collection.
"As a strategist, whether I'm talking to legislators, environmentalists, or developers, I want to be able to say what will work, and I want to know why one thing works here and not there," says Press. "This project tells the story of land conservation in California in the twentieth century."
Jennifer McNulty