PERSPECTIVES FROM THE FIELD: Dilemma of the Conservation Footprint: Land Tenure, Self-Constitution, and Orchestrated Regionalism in the United States

The conservation footprint is the collection of acreage in national parks, national forests, wildlife refuges, national forests or other lands managed by the federal government. Their purpose is to maintain biological integrity and diversity (Monaghan, 2009). However, the United States (US) has failed to develop an effective policy for the conservation footprint. This policy failure is the result of many factors (Biber, 2009), three of which are land tenure, self-constitution, and orchestrated regionalism. As a result, the very substance of US conservation is eroding.