Public Land Policy
Resource Exploitation 1865-1890
Goal--encouraged the settlement
of the land
Means-- Privatization
Homestead Act of 1862
1872 mining law
Efficiency Movement 18901920
Bureau of Forestry- G. Pinchot
Taylor Grazing Act of 1934
 Gospel of Efficiency
 “Conservation is the
greatest good for the
greatest # of people
for the longest time”
Federal Reclamation Service, 1902
Preservation Movement
-Creation of National Park System,
Antiquities Act, Fish and Wildlife Service
"The man should have youth and strength
who seeks adventure in the wide, waste
spaces of the earth, in the marshes, and
among the vast mountain masses, in the
northern forests, amid the steaming jungles
of the tropics, or on the desert of sand or of
snow. He must long greatly for the lonely
winds that blow across the wilderness, and
for sunrise and sunset over the rim of the
empty world."
Theodore Roosevelt
Big Questions
What is land good for?
Who makes the decision?
How to balance competing values?
Role of public sector?
Role of private sector
Role of science/values
Public Lands
Administered by different agencies
National Park Service (NPS)
Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Interior
Forest Service (FS) Agriculture
Different mission
29% of US land
92% of lands are in 12 western states
National Park Service
Most restrictive limits on usage
77 million acres
Diverse categories of units
National Parks
National Preserves
National Monuments
Misc
National Parks
National Preserves
Big Cypress
Aniakchak Caldera
Tallgrass Prairie
Bering Land Bridge
National Monuments
Canyon de Chelly
Pt. Reyes National Seashore
Saratoga National
Battlefield
Recreation Conflict
National Wildlife Refuge System
Managed by Fish and Wildlife Service
Responsibilities include
93 million acres in 512 national wildlife refuges,
198 waterfowl production areas,
50 wildlife coordination areas
114 other sites
Mission- conserve and enhance fish and
wildlife and their habitats
Bureau of Land Management
Federal Land Policy and Management
Act of 1976 (FLPMA)
"multiple use"
"management of the public lands and their
various resource values so that they are
utilized in the combination that will best
meet the present and future needs of the
American people."
Multiple (!) Users
Resource Utilization
Mining development
and energy
production
leasing of Federal oil
and gas and
geothermal minerals
maintaining mining
claims or sites
Oil shale
development
Livestock grazing
Overseeing
production of oil and
gas resources,
geothermal
resources, helium,
solid minerals, coal,
wind power, solar
power, and minerals
Recreation
hunting
fishing
camping
hiking
horseback riding
boating
white water rafting
hang gliding
off-highway vehicle
and pleasure driving
mountain biking
birding and wildlife
viewing
winter sports
climbing
visiting natural and
cultural heritage
sites
Bureau of Land Management
National Management Strategy for Motorized Off-Highway Vehicle Use
California Desert
Wilderness Areas
Managed by BLM, NFS, NPS, & FWS
Designated by Congress
“an area where the earth and its community of life
are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a
visitor who does not remain…”
Designation criteria
imprint of man’s work substantially unnoticeable
outstanding opportunities for solitude
may contain ecological, geological, other features
Use
Commercial activities prohibited
Primitive recreation only
Roan Plateau, CO
.
National Forest Service
Motto: Caring for the
Land and Serving
People
area similar to Texas 8% of U.S. land mass
Early mission: protect
forest reserves from
unrestrained logging
Multiple Use
Recreation vs. Timber
production
Overview
BLM & NFS big 2
Wilderness
14%
NFS
26%
NPS
11%
BLM
36%
FWS
13%
60%+ public lands
Multiple Use criteria
Politically
controversial
Grand Staircase
Escalante National
Monument designated
by Clinton 2000
Utah Geological
Survey- $223 -$331
billion in energy and
mineral resources
Forest Service- Multiple Use