Federal Lands Policy

One of the oldest policy debates in U.S. history concerns the allocation, use, and management of public lands, which currently comprise one-quarter of the United States. In this volume, Phillip O. Foss has assembled a selection of original research papers and interpretative essays from recognized authorities with a variety of philosophical orientations in order to present a well-rounded picture of today's views of public lands policy. Contributors describe and analyze the three major trends in lands management: preservation, conservation, and the environmental movement. Issues which have posed continuing problems throughout the history of public lands management are also examined, including the decision to retain or dispose, the establishment of grazing fees, the management of lands with interspersed ownership, the decision to employ centralized or decentralized management tactics, and the allocation of multiple or single use for the land.

"This paper explains the nature of Federal land holdings and Federal land management policy. It also examines the interpretations of that policy made by some of the major land holding departments in the administration of their programmes. The purpose of this paper is to provide information as a basis for making recommendations about the role of Federal land in shaping land use patterns"--Introduction.

The administration of public lands in the three prairie provinces of the Canadian West was the most important activity of the federal government for sixty years after the acquisition of the region in 1870. Martin studies the policies devised by politicians and officials for the disposal of public lands, and the granting of concessions to individuals and business interests for exploiting the other natural resources of the area.

The federal government is by far the largest landowner in the United States. It is somewhat of an anomaly for the federal government to hold vast acreages of land in an economy where the prevailing ideology favours private ownership. The Reagan administration’s (1981-1989) proposal to increase energy and mineral development on federal lands, to accelerate timber harvesting in national forests, and to expand the sale of federal lands generated strong and vocal opposition. Originally published in 1984, in the midst of the Reagan era, Rethinking the Federal Lands examines why the U.S. has retained federal lands and questions how ownership affects the management of federal lands and the total benefits society derives from them. This title is ideal for students interested in environmental studies and policy making.

"The management of public lands in the West is a matter of long-standing and oft-contentious debates. The government must balance the interests of a variety of stakeholders, including extractive industries like oil and timber; farmers, ranchers, and fishers; Native Americans; tourists; and environmentalists. Local, state, and government policies and approaches change according to the vagaries of scientific knowledge, the American and global economies, and political administrations. Occasionally, debates over public land usage erupt into major incidents, as with the armed occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016. While a number of scholars work on the politics and policy of public land management, there has been no central book on the topic since the publication of Charles Davis's Western Public Lands and Environmental Politics (Westview, 2001). In The Environmental Politics and Policy of Western Public Lands, Erika Allen Wolters and Brent Steel have assembled a stellar cast of scholars to consider long-standing issues and topics such as endangered species, land use, and water management while addressing more recent challenges to western public lands like renewable energy siting, fracking, Native American sovereignty, and land use rebellions. Chapters also address the impact of climate change on policy dimensions and scope. The Environmental Politics and Policy of Western Public Lands is co-published with Oregon State University Open Educational Resources, who will release an open access edition alongside this print edition"--