Extended Analysis
In response to mapping the top 50 counties against physical limits, I questioned the validity of the methodology initially employed on the micro level. Many Eastern counties did not appear even to be proximal to large tracts of federal land, let alone abut them. I decided to expand the scope of the study and screen out counties that do not intersect federal lands. When controlling for these variables, I discovered that, of the top 100 counties (or 3.33% of all counties), fewer than 70 intersect federal lands (and thus face the federal land constraint). The following map displays these counties--those that intersect federal lands are displayed in red, those in green do not. This led me to question my initial scope of micro analysis: perhaps I did not include enough counties?
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