Britain’s Right to Roam: Redefining the Landowner's Bundle of Sticks

Jerry L. Anderson is the Richard M. and Anita Calkins Professor of Law, Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa.Britain recently enacted a “right to roam” in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (CRoW) 2000. At first glance, CRoW appears to be a dramatic curtailment of the landowner’s traditional right to exclude; it opens up all private land classified as “mountain, moor, heath, or down” to the public for hiking and picnicking. Yet, when viewed in the light of history, CRoW may be seen as partially restoring to the commoner rights lost during the enclosure period, when the commons system ended. CRoW also represents a return to a functional rather than spatial form of land ownership, allowing more than one party to have rights in a particular piece of land. The new law highlights some important public values regarding freedom of access that have been all but forgotten in the United States. The law calls into question U.S. Supreme Court precedent that has enshrined the right to exclude as an “essential” stick in the bundle of property rights and serves as a powerful alternative to the Court’s formalistic notion of property rights. Given the differences in its history, culture, and legal system, the United States is unlikely to follow Britain’s lead in enacting a right to roam; nevertheless, the study of CRoW contains valuable lessons for Americans.The author wishes to thank the anonymous donor of the Drake International Research Stipend who generously enabled this research

The Right to Roam

In 2000, Britain enacted a “right to roam” in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (CRoW). At first glance, CRoW appears to be a dramatic curtailment of the landowner’s traditional right to exclude: it opens up all private land classified as “mountain, moor, heath, or down” to the public for hiking and picnicking. Yet, when viewed in the light of history, CRoW may be seen as partially restoring to the commoner rights lost during the enclosure period, when the commons system ended. CRoW also represents a return to a functional rather than spatial form of land ownership, allowing more than one party to have rights in a particular piece of land. The new law highlights some important public values regarding freedom of access that have been all but for forgotten in the United States. The law calls into question U.S. Supreme Court precedent that has enshrined the right to exclude as an “essential” stick in the bundle of property rights and serves as a powerful alternative to the Court’s formalistic notion of property rights. Although, given the differences in our history, culture, and legal systems, the United States is unlikely to follow Britain’s lead in enacting a right to roam, the study of CRoW contains valuable lessons for Americans

Understanding home water treatment systems (1995)

"New 7/93, Reprinted 6/95/5M.""Water Quality.""Focus area : drinking water.""Published by University Extension. University of Missouri-Columbia.""Reviewed and adapted for Missouri by Wanda Eubank, Jerry Carpenter, Bev Maltsberger, University of Missouri-Columbia, and Nix Anderson, Missouri Department of Health. From Buying Home Water Treatment Equipment by Adel L. Pfeil, Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing, Purdue University.

Ornamental Grasses in the Landscape, A Guide for the Intermountain West

This publication illustrates basic identifying structures and features of grasses in general, as well as key taxonomic characteristics that horticulturists use in classifying the different species. It also covers how to use ornamental grasses in landscape settings and highlights some of the commonly grown ornamental species that are adapted to the Intermountain West

Affective Decision-making Predictive of Chinese Adolescent Drinking Behaviors

The goal of the current investigation was to address whether affective decision making would serve as a unique neuropsychological marker to predict drinking behaviors among adolescents. We conducted a longitudinal study of 181 Chinese adolescents in Chengdu city, China. In their 10th grade (ages 15–16), these adolescents were tested for their affective decision-making ability using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and working memory capacity using the Self-Ordered Pointing Test. Self-report questionnaires were used to assess academic performance and drinking behaviors. At 1-year follow-up, questionnaires were completed to assess drinking behaviors, and the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale was used to examine four dimensions of impulsivity: urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, and sensation seeking. Results indicated that those adolescents who progressed to binge drinking or exhibited consistent binge drinking not only performed poorly on the IGT but also scored significantly higher in urgency compared to those who never or occasionally drank. Moreover, better IGT scores predicted fewer drinking problems and fewer drinks 1 year later after controlling for demographic variables, the previous drinking behaviors, working memory, and impulsivity. These findings suggest that deficits in affective decision making may be important independent determinants of compulsive drinking and potentially addictive behavior in adolescents. (JINS, 2009, 15, 547–557.

Test Plan to Assess Fire Effects on the Function of an Engineered Surface Barrier

Wildfire is a frequent perturbation in shrub steppe ecosystems, altering the flora, fauna, atmosphere, and soil of these systems. Research on the fire effects has focused mostly on natural ecosystems with essentially no attention on engineered systems like surface barriers. The scope of the project is to use a simulated wildfire to induce changes in an engineered surface barrier and document the effects on barrier performance. The main objective is to quantify the effects of burning and the resulting post-fire conditions on alterations in soil physical properties; hydrologic response, particularly the water balance; geochemical properties; and biological properties. A secondary objective is to use the lessons learned to maximize fire protection in the design of long-term monitoring systems based on electronic sensors. A simulated wildfire will be initiated, controlled and monitored at the 200-BP-1 barrier in collaboration with the Hanford Fire Department during the fall of 2008. The north half of the barrier will be divided into nine 12 x 12 m plots, each of which will be randomly assigned a fuel load of 2 kg m-2 or 4 kg m-2. Each plot will be ignited around the perimeter and flames allowed to carry to the centre. Any remaining unburned vegetation will be manually burned off using a drip torch. Progress of the fire and its effects will be monitored using point measurements of thermal, hydrologic, and biotic variables. Three measures of fire intensity will be used to characterize fire behavior: (1) flame height, (2) the maximum temperature at three vertical profile levels, and (3) total duration of elevated temperature at these levels. Pre-burn plant information, including species diversity, plant height, and canopy diameter will be measured on shrubs from the plots to be burned and from control plots at the McGee ranch. General assessments of shrub survival, recovery, and recruitment will be made after the fire. Near-surface soil samples will be collected pre- and post-burn to determine changes in the gravel content of the surface layer so as to quantify inflationary or deflationary responses to fire and to reveal the ability of the surface to resist post-fire erosive stresses. Measures of bulk density, water repellency, water retention, and hydraulic conductivity will be used to characterize changes in infiltration rates and water storage capacity following the fire. Samples will also be analyzed to quantify geochemical changes including changes in soil pH, cation exchange capacity, specific surface area, and the concentration of macro nutrients (e.g. N, P, K) and other elements such as Na, Mg, Ca, that are critical to the post-fire recovery revegetation. Soil CO2 emissions will be measured monthly for one year following the burn to document post-fire stimulation of carbon turnover and soil biogenic emissions. Surface and subsurface temperature measurements at and near monitoring installations will be used to document fire effects on electronic equipment. The results of this study will be used to bridge the gaps in knowledge on the effects of fire on engineered ecosystems (e.g. surface barriers), particularly the hydrologic and biotic characteristics that govern the water and energy balance. These results will also support the development of practical fire management techniques for barriers that are compatible with wildfire suppression strategies. Furthermore, lessons learned will be use to develop installation strategies needed to protect electronic monitoring equipment from the intense heat of fire and the potential damaging effects of smoke and fire extinguishing agents. Such information is needed to better understand long-term barrier performance under extreme conditions, especially if site maintenance and operational funding is lost for activities such as barrier revegetation

Histone H3 Methylation by Set2 Directs Deacetylation of Coding Regions by Rpd3S to Suppress Spurious Intragenic Transcription

SummaryYeast Rpd3 histone deacetylase plays an important role at actively transcribed genes. We characterized two distinct Rpd3 complexes, Rpd3L and Rpd3S, by MudPIT analysis. Both complexes shared a three subunit core and Rpd3L contains unique subunits consistent with being a promoter targeted corepressor. Rco1 and Eaf3 were subunits specific to Rpd3S. Mutants of RCO1 and EAF3 exhibited increased acetylation in the FLO8 and STE11 open reading frames (ORFs) and the appearance of aberrant transcripts initiating within the body of these ORFs. Mutants in the RNA polymerase II-associated SET2 histone methyltransferase also displayed these defects. Set2 functioned upstream of Rpd3S and the Eaf3 methyl-histone binding chromodomain was important for recruitment of Rpd3S and for deacetylation within the STE11 ORF. These data indicate that Pol II-associated Set2 methylates H3 providing a transcriptional memory which signals for deacetylation of ORFs by Rpd3S. This erases transcription elongation-associated acetylation to suppress intragenic transcription initiation