Landholding systems and resource management in the Sky Islands Borderlands

Abstract

The Borderlands region of the Madrean Sky Island Archipelago provides an excellent opportunity to compare a variety of landholding systems. During the past four centuries, landholding has been regulated by diverse systems that vary from the customary land distribution practices of native peoples to formalized written land laws imposed by the nation states that currently regulate land ownership and use. The following very informal review of landholding systems is intended to provide historical context for current scientific studies. Hopefully it will initiate a discussion of the relationship between land tenure, custom, and the management and consumption of natural resources.

Parent Publication

• Connecting mountain islands and desert seas: Biodiversity and management of the Madrean Archipelago II

Citation

Hadley, Diana. 2005. Landholding systems and resource management in the Sky Islands Borderlands. In: Gottfried, Gerald J.; Gebow, Brooke S.; Eskew, Lane G.; Edminster, Carleton B., comps. Connecting mountain islands and desert seas: biodiversity and management of the Madrean Archipelago II. Proc. RMRS-P-36. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 15-25