Babbitt Boasts of Boulder on Book Tour

By Felicia Russell

Praising the Open Space plan, former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt said that Boulder has become a hub of discussion on land use planning in the West.

Babbitt, a member of President Clinton's cabinet for eight years, spoke to faculty and students Sept. 23 at the University of Colorado about the historic and future roll of the national government in land use planning as part of a tour to promote his new book "Cities in the Wilderness: A new vision of land use in America."

Bruce Babbitt, President Clinton's Interior Secretary from 1993 to 2001. (Photo/Center of the American West)

"Land use planning has been reduced to traffic design and the location of community facilities," said Babbit. The United States fails to do land use planning on a large enough scale and has lost sight of what is urban and what is wilderness. However, he says that there is hope in communities like Boulder that have begun to think about curbing sprawl.

The common attitude among politicians is that land use planning is a local issue, he said, but "the fact is, land use planning in the U.S. has always been a national issue." Canals, railroads, levees, interstates and dams are all federally funded projects. Babbitt pointed out that such projects often promote economic growth and development but can also result in large-scale ecological deterioration.

"Building of dams and development was the beginning of the death of the Mississippi Delta," Babbitt said. Two centuries of flood control in the Mississippi watershed has reduced the amount of sand and silt that the river carries from the center of the country out into the Gulf of Mexico. And channeling has caused the remaining sediment load to be shunted over the continental shelf.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Web site says early attempts to train the river caused the massive 1927 flood which damaged 11 million acres of farmland. And research by scientists at the University of Memphis Meeman Biological Field Station support claims that channeling and other flood control measures contributed to the 1993 flood. New reports say that the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was multiplied because Louisiana's shrunken coastal wetlands couldn't absorb the storm surges.

"We need to struggle toward a kind of higher vision," said Babbitt; one that is more holistic and better able to prevent disasters like the floods in New Orleans.

According to Babbitt, such a vision stipulates that all federal highway funding require states to plan with ecosystems in mind and set aside open space, and that all federal water projects be accompanied by plans to protect the health of surrounding plants, animals and ecological services.

Writing new laws is not part of his plan. Rather, he envisions changing the way that Americans value and interact with their environment—a deepening of the conservation ethic that Teddy Roosevelt practiced.

Land use planning, said Babbit, is the "major issue this century for those of us who are concerned about the environment." He urged people faced with a new shopping mall or highway to use the political power of the community to say "No," then negotiate with developers to ensure sustainable and environmentally-sound building practices.

Grassroots activism is vital to protecting ecosystems in the current political climate, he said. And urged the audience to be persistent in their efforts.

"Not in this session of Congress. Not under this president." But, said Babbit, "the moment of change will come."