Topic: North Carolina State Natural and Public Recreation Land Acquisition and Protection Policies vs. Encroaching Development
 

Section I: Topic Introduction and Keywords
Section II: UNC-CH library Catalog Sources
Section III: Lexis-Nexis Academic Sources
Section IV: Web Sources
Section V: Mini-Essay

Section I: Topic Introduction and Keywords    <<

As an avid hiker, I have come to believe in the importance of natural and public recreation lands for the health of a community. In many parts of North Carolina, development is taking place at such a staggering rate that many of these undeveloped natural areas are endangered. One case near and dear to Chapel Hill is the Bolin Creek corridor, which has constantly been threatened by the rapid development taking place in the Triangle.This research project will seek to answer the questions that follow. How big of a threat does encroaching development (specifically in the Triangle and Piedmont region) pose to certain undeveloped lands in North Carolina? What are the private, federal and state government’s policies and actions in natural and public recreation land acquisition and protection? And how does this compare with other states’ policies?

North Carolina citizens who are outdoor enthusiasts and naturalists are the intended audience for this research project. As users and supporters of public lands, they should have interest in this topic.

Keywords Used:

UNC library catalog:

-"North Carolina" AND "open space" (limited by date 1990-1999)
-"North Carolina" AND "conservation" NOT coast? (limited by date 2000-2002)

Academic Universe Lexis-Nexis:

-"North Carolina" "land conservation"
-"North Carolina" "public recreation" "natural heritage"

Web search engines:

-"North Carolina" AND triangle "open space" AND "land protection" 2002 OR 2003
-"North Carolina" "green spaces” AND polic? 200?
 

Section II: UNC-CH library Catalog Sources    <<

Print Sources:

Conservation Council of North Carolina Foundation, See No Evil: Why Our Environmental Laws aren't Being Enforced (Raleigh,
2002), 30. Cp570 B557s

Flanders, Carolyn B. 1993. The conservation of open space: a comparative study of Boulder, Colorado and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Honors Essay, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. C378 UO6 1993 v. 14

Non-Print Source:

Friday, William. North Carolina Coastal Parks. Coastal Carolina Press. 32 min. North Carolina Public Broadcasting, 2000. Videocassette. C711 N87c

Section III: Lexis-Nexis Academic Sources    <<

Assis, Claudia. (2002, November 10). $1.1M deal adds 159 acres to Eno park mile of riverfront, quarry, 2 houses included in sale. The Herald-Sun. [Online], 572 words. LEXIS-NEXIS ACADEMIC [2002, February 2].

Gronberg, Ray. (2002, November 28). Group Seeks Open Space Plan for North Carolina Creek Corridor. The Herald-Sun. [Online], 626 words. LEXIS-NEXIS ACADEMIC [2002, February 2].

McGrath, Gareth. (2002, September 4). The Nature of New Hanover Ecology counts Inventory catalogs species worth preserving. The Morning Star, Wilmington. [Online], 764 words. LEXIS-NEXIS ACADEMIC [2002, February 2].

Shapard, Rob. (2002, September 25). County lands farmland grant funds will be used to keep land from being developed. Chapel Hill Herald. [Online], 587 words. LEXIS-NEXIS ACADEMIC [2002, February 2].

Shapard, Rob. (2002, September 28). Move resolves satellite annexation question. Chapel Hill Herald. [Online], 555 words. LEXIS-NEXIS ACADEMIC [2002, February 2].

Struglinski, Suzanne. (2002, November 21). DOD cooperation program set to protect land, species. Land Preservation. [Online], 1269 words. LEXIS-NEXIS ACADEMIC [2002, February 2].
 
 

Section IV: Web Sources    <<

Title of Web Page: Data, Statistics, Reports and Maps

Web Address: http://www.enr.state.nc.us/html/data.html

Brief Description: This web page is a great starting point for research on North Carolina State natural and public recreation land acquisition and protection policies vs. encroaching development. There’s a wealth of knowledge, including graphs and maps among other graphics that help the non-specialist visualize the vast array of data.

Source of Web Site: North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources
 
 

Title of Web Page: Million Acre Initiative

Web Address: http://www.ils.unc.edu/parkproject/maint/home/home.html

Brief Description: This web site provides comprehensive information on the law set in place in 2000 by the North Carolina General Assembly to preserve an additional one million acres of farmland, open space and other land by 2009, making protected land in North Carolina account for 12 percent of total land area in the state. The site provides the reasons for such land protection and also links open space plans from various counties in the state as well as the plans of other states.

Source of Web Site: University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science
 
 

Title of Web page: State of Open Space 2002

Web Address: http://www.tlc-nc.org/planning.shtml

Brief Description: This web site has the online report from 2002 on the status of protected land in the Triangle. There are graphs and charts showing the statistics of land acquisition. In addition to the large amount of data on the subject, there’s text with explanations of the data, definitions and recommendations for land protection and acquisition for preservation purposes in this region.

Source of Web Site: Triangle Land Conservancy
 
 

Title of Web page: Land and Water Conservation Fund FY2002

Web Address: http://www.wilderness.org/eyewash/lwcf/2002projects.htm

Description: This page is an excellent source for comparative contemporary information regarding the status on the provisions made by the federal government via the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The watchdog Wilderness Society provides the raw facts showing where North Carolina falls in wit the rest of the 49 states in receiving support for in-state conservation efforts.

Source of Web Site: The Wilderness Society
 
 

Title of Web page: Sprawl Costs Us All

Web Address: http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/report00/sprawl.pdf

Description: This report gives a good general glimpse of the problem of urban sprawl in the United States. North Carolina is mentioned and compared with other regions in a readable format. The Sierra Club focuses on the causes and effects of sprawl (including the diminishment of undervalued green space) and offers alternate strategies revolving around tested smart growth policies.

Source of Web Site: The Sierra Club

Section V: Mini-Essay    <<

Spam: Entrepreneurial Lamb or Useless Sham?

In February 1982, the first email chain letter bounced from modem to modem, marking the genesis of unsolicited commercial email (UCE) also known as spam. Today, with close to 500 million internet users worldwide, many believe the marketing strategies of online entrepreneurs have gone too far and need to be controlled. In the mid '90s, spamming really began to take off with internet user ship. "Spammers," such as Jeff Slaton AKA "the Spam King," were pioneers. These programmers invented new software that could harvest email addresses to send out mass advertisements. "Spamware" and spamming outfits such as Floodgate and CyberPromo became sought after operations for start-up and established businesses alike. The best part for these entrepreneurs was and still is the cheapness of unsolicited commercial email. It costs only a couple hundred dollars to turn one's computer into a spamming machine, and after that initial investment, all the subsequent mass emailing is virtually free. (1) As expected in this free market, anti-spamming programs soon surfaced to supply the growing demand for spam protection. However, the dueling software technologies inevitably ebbed and flowed through the late '90s, causing many to seek a more permanent fix to their email woes. Hundreds of thousands of internet users turned to the federal and state governments for help. The federal and many state governments then and now don't outlaw spam. Instead, state and federal government focus is on cracking down on the plentiful fraudulent business practices and inappropriate material associated with anonymous spamming. Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission's website gives tips on minimizing unwanted email. (2) Amidst this ongoing struggle arises the question of whether or not spam will ever go away; perhaps spam will become an ever growing link between producers and consumers in the 21st century.

NOTES:
(1) Don Oldenburg. (2002, September 2). Spam and Ughs. TechNews [Online]. Available: Lexis-Nexis Academic [Accessed: 2002, Feb. 2].

(2) Ron Anderson. (2002, September 15). The Anti-Spam Cookbook. Network Computing [Online]. Available: Lexis-Nexis Academic [Accessed: 2002, Feb 2].
 

Title of Web page: Spam Email

Web Address: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/

Description: The federal Trade Commission's definition of Spam, the policies, and tips on how to avoid unwanted emails.

Source of Web Site: Federal Trade Commission
 

Title of Web page: A Plan for Spam

Web Address: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/

Description: An accomplished computer programmer/designer's recommended technical solutions and strategies for spam in a published series of articles.

Source of Web Site: Paul Graham
 

Title of Web page: Spam Laws: United States

Web Address: http://www.spamlaws.com/us.html

Description: This web page provides a good summary of laws both at the state and federal level in the United States regarding spam.

Source of Web Site: Spam Laws, David Sorkin