TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF FARMLAND PRESERVATION IN MICHIGAN, PA 116

Michigan, similar to other states in the Great Lakes and Midwest area, entered the farmland preservation arena in the early 1970's in response to a growing concern over the conversion of farmland to non-agricultural uses. Reports indicated that farmland acreage in Michigan was being converted to non-agricultural uses at a rate of 300 acres per day and 30,000 lots per year were created between 1940-1970. A Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission in 1970 provided evidence that the loss of farmland in the state was an emerging state policy concern and made several recommendations which ultimately lead to "Farmland and Open Space Preservation Act," Public Act 116, 1974, hereafter referred to as the P.A. 116 Program. The purpose of the Program was to slow the conversion of farmland to non-farm uses while at the same time provide property tax relief to farmland owners because farmers claimed that high property taxes were forcing them to sell land for development. Payments from the State were made in exchange for development rights for an agreed upon period.Land Economics/Use,

THE LAND DIVISION AMENDMENTS TO THE SUBDIVISION CONTROL ACT

On January 21, 1997, Governor Engler signed into law 1996 P.A. 591, the Land Division Act. This Act replaced the Subdivision Control Act after 30 years and changed the rules on how land is divided in Michigan. 1997 P.A. 87, effective July 28, 1997, amended the recently created 1996 Land Division Act. While some hailed these as positive changes allowing improved land use, others strongly disagree. This paper is an attempt to alleviate the frustration by providing a history of land division legislation in Michigan because past laws creates an assumed set of rights which are not easily changes. The second focus of the paper is to lessen the confusion level by defining the main points of the law.Land Economics/Use,

How jazz musicians improvise: The central role of auditory and motor patterns

It is well known that jazz improvisations include repeated rhythmic and melodic patterns. What is less understood is how those patterns come to be. One theory posits that entire motor patterns are stored in procedural memory and inserted into an ongoing improvisation. An alternative view is that improvisers use procedures based on the rules of tonal jazz to create an improvised output. This output may contain patterns but these patterns are accidental and not stored in procedural memory for later use. The current study used a novel computer-based technique to analyze a large corpus of 48 improvised solos by the jazz great Charlie Parker. To be able to compare melodic patterns independent of absolute pitch, all pitches were converted to directional intervals listed in half steps. Results showed that 82.6% of the notes played begin a four-interval pattern and 57.6% begin interval and rhythm patterns. The mean number of times the four-interval pattern on each note position is repeated in the solos analyzed was 26.3 and patterns up to 49 intervals in length were identified. The sheer ubiquity of patterns and the pairing of pitch and rhythm patterns support the theory that pre-formed structures are inserted during improvisation. The patterns may be encoded both during deliberate practice and through an incidental learning processes. These results align well with related processes in both language acquisition and motor learning

The Politics of Fire and the Social Impacts of Fire Exclusion on the Klamath1

The exceptional biological diversity of the mid-Klamath River region of northern California has emerged in conjunction with sophisticated Karuk land management practices, including the regulation of the forest and fisheries through ceremony and the use of fire. Over three quarters of Karuk traditional food and cultural use species are enhanced by fire. Fire is also central to cultural and spiritual practices. Land management techniques since the early 1900s have emphasized fire suppression and the “exclusion” of wildfire from the landscape. This paper uses data from interviews, surveys and other documents to describe the social impacts of fire exclusion for Karuk tribal members. The exclusion of fire from the ecosystem has a host of interrelated ecological and social impacts including impacts to cultural practice, political sovereignty, social relations, subsistence activities, and the mental and physical health of individual tribal members. In addition, Karuk tribal members are negatively impacted by the effects of catastrophic fires and intensive firefighting activities that in turn result from fire exclusion. Whereas existing literature has addressed ecological and social impacts of changing ecosystems as separate categories, the social, ecological and economic impacts of fire exclusion are here understood to be intrinsically linked