Links to previous works

Welcome to the Potomac Creek blog! (Is there an uglier, more suspect word than "blog?" But here we are.) Original content is coming soon. Since you're already here, though, you may like reading my more academic work on people, nature, and land. 

Can't access the links below? In a pinch, I may be able to send you a pdf copy.

Ranjit Singh, "Been Heres" and "Come Heres" in Stafford County, Virginia: Private Landowners and Land Conservation on the Urban Fringe." Environment, Space, Place (Fall 2020). 

What it's about: Private land is vital to conservation, and conservationists  need to know the communities they serve. This peer-reviewed paper studies the preferences and concerns of such landowners on the rural-urban fringe of Stafford County, Virginia. Interviews with 53 landowners show that conservation is deeply embedded within key social, moral, cultural, and political contexts, including a divide between long-term and newer residents. Successful conservation requires such social knowledge. I argue that landowner skepticism about local government points towards joint strategies between local government and partner groups. Land conservation should be framed as an affirmation of—not limitation on—property rights since urban fringe private landowners are likely to see such rights as under attack. Conservation also presents an opportunity to build community in areas experiencing rapid urbanization. 

 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/798397/pdf

Ranjit Singh, Review of Andrew W. Kahrl's excellent book Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America's Most Exclusive Shoreline. Environment, Space, Place (Spring 2019). 

What it's about:  As kids, we freely roamed the shorelines of local waterways like Potomac Creek. But the place started getting crowded, property values soared, and now access to the water is hard to come by. This well-researched book spoke to me.  "You can tell an awful lot about a place by looking at its beaches. As historian Andrew W. Kahrl observes, in summer the beach is the most sought-after space, a defining symbol of a society's willingness to share. So -- who's playing in the sand?"

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/798313/summary

Finally, environmental writing is new to me. For a glimpse of the type of things I've normally written about, you might look here.