http://www.nps.gov/grca
Grand
Canyon,
Arizona
http://www.nps.gov/grca
Yellow Stone National Park
http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/wyoming/yellowstone-national-park.php
Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park
http://www.nps.gov/yell
Why study public ownership and
management of lands?
Why study public ownership and
management of lands?
• Public lands  allocated by political processes, not through
markets; taxpayer is stakeholder
• Different types of goods produced by forests
• Ownership
– 36% (public), 2% (Native Amer,), 62% (private)
• Much of federal landholdings are reserved for natural
resource purposes
• Federal agencies have mandates to manage
Chapter 12:
Public Ownership and
Management of Land
Text: Cubbage et al., 1992
Early American Land Policy
• Rooted in European cultures but developed differently
• British crown set up 13 colonies in Atlantic Seaboard.
• Native Americans
– land held in common
– used as part of their spiritual beliefs
– sustained yield practiced but based on hunting (not farming)
• Early Americans
– fled from British aristocracy control of most lands
– land ownership and control very important to new settlers
Expanding the Public Domain
Resulted from wars, treaties, purchases
– Louisiana Purchase (1803, from France)
– Texas – annexed (1845) & purchased (1850)
– Oregon, WA, Idaho (1846) became territories – Oregon
Compromise
– CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM (Mexican Treaty (1848)
– Alaska (1867, purchased from Russia)
– Native American displacements – native lands to
reservations
Public Land Disposal
• Federal gov’t once owned 82.5% of land; now owns only 29%
• Land Ordinance of 1785
• Public Land Survey (began in 1785)
• Gen. Land Office (Treasury Dept.) – estab 1812 to help sell public lands
• 1862 Homestead Act
• Grants to states  328 million acres or about 15% of America’s land
• 1873 Timber Culture Act
• 1877 Desert Land Sales Act
• 1872 Mining Law
• Timber and Stone Act of 1878
Looting the Public Domain (Illustration)
• Puter (1908/1972) -- “Looters of the Public Domain” chronicled lawlessness as lands transferred hands
• Timber and Stone Act of 1878 – designed to transfer lands to
indiv farmers; resulted to massive transfer of prime
timberland to sawmillers & loggers at very low prices
• Fraud and means to loot public domain -- accounts
• By 1890: public concerned with disposal process, start of
conservation movement calling for reservation of some public
forest lands
Retaining Public Lands
• George Perkins Marsh (1864) – triggered first conservation
movement with his book Man and Nature (1864)
• USDI Sec Carl Schurz (1877-81) – leading proponent of forest
land protection gov’t control.
• Federal Forest Reserves of 1891— President can “set apart
and reserve … public lands … as forest reserves.”
• Organic Act of 1897 – defined purposes of forest reserves.
• John Wesley Powell – 1878 Report on the Lands of theArid
Region
– suggested federal policy should consider the landscape
– Proposed political jurisdictions be organized around watersheds
Retaining Public Lands
• Pres. Harrison & Cleveland – reserved 17.5 million acres by 1893
• T. Roosevelt & Pinchot  1907, NFs rose from 38.8 to 140 mill ac
• Transfer Act of 1905
– forest reserves transfer from USDI to USDA
– renamed reserves to “national forests”.
• Eastern National Forest Purchases (3 laws - land acquisition policy)
– 1911 Weeks Law – for watershed protection
– 1924 Clarke-McNary Act – purposes included timber production
– 1928 McNary-Woodruff Act –limit purchases to < 1 million ac per state
Federal Land Management Agencies
•
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•
Federal
Total Area (millions) Managed
USDA
201.9
Forest Service
190.8
USDI
432.4
Bu. Indian Affairs
2.7
BLM
266.3
Bu. Reclamation
5.7
Fish & Wildlife Service 83.4
National Park Service
74.2
Dept of Defense
26.0
Army Corps of Eng.
5.5
Other
1.9
Total Federal Lands
662.2
State & Local
155.0
Total government
817.2
Total Area of US
2316.0
The Department of the Interior
• USDI created in 1849 (USDA in 1862)
• 5 agencies under USDI
– National Park Service
– Fish & Wildlife Service
– Bureau of Land Management
– Bureau of Indian Affairs
– Bureau of Reclamation
• First forest lands (forest reserves) under USDI
• Early National Parks
– Yellowstone National Park (1872)
– Yosemite (1890)
• Antiquities Act of 1906 – authorized president to proclaim national
monuments
Grand Canyon,
Arizona
http://www.nps.gov/grca
USDI: National Park Service
• National Park Service Organic Act of 1916
– “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and
the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same
in such a manner and by such means as will leave them
unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”
• The National Park System
– 1916: 11 national parks, 18 national monuments, and 2 other
reservations
– 1967: there were 32 national parks, 77 national monuments, &
93 other areas (75 mil ac.)
• 3 Park Land Types
– natural, historical, and recreational areas
USDI: National Park Service
• Public Recreation Providers
– NPS: best known provider but provides only about 20% of total
– Forest Service – biggest provider (40%)
– Corps of Engineers provide 25%
• 1958 ORRRC (Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission)
– studied problems due to increased recreation on federal lands
• Issues identified before are same today!
– external threats to federal parks & recreation (air pollution), energy
needs, water development, wildlife protection and hunting, private land
inholdings, new laws
– Internal policies include political appointments taking precedence over
professionalism, park responses to use pressures, recreation’s effects
on wildlife, recreational damage to vegetation and soils, vandalism and
crime in the parks, recreational carrying capacity, and user fees.
USDI: Bureau of Reclamation
• established in 1906
• Purposes: irrigation, electric power generation, flood control
• John Wesley Powell pioneered development of arid West, published
report on “Lands of the Arid Regions of the United States”
• Reclamation Act of 1902 – led to extensive system of dams in West
• Reclamation Service - established in Geological Survey in 1907
• 1930s/1940s – Reclamation Era, due to huge no. & sizes of
multipurpose water projects
• 1st major project – Boulder Project (Hoover Dam) on Colorado River
USDI: Bureau of Land Management
• Created in 1946 by combining GAO & Grazing Service
• The Grazing Service
– Created by Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 which ended the disposal
of federal public lands
– Taylor Grazing Act –established grazing districts, leasing to local
stockowners who had a prior use of the range.
• The New BLM
– 1964 Public Land Law Review Commission (PLLRC) – reviewed
public lands, recommended retention of USDI lands under gov’t
control
– Classification and Multiple-Use Act of 1964 – authorized BLM to
inventory public lands, classify them for disposal or retention
USDI: Bureau of Land Management
• Federal Land Policy & Management Act of 1976
– The BLM’s organic act, gave BLM statutory status as permanent
federal agency
– Gave BLM a multiple-use mandate, similar to USFS under
MUSYAof 1960
– Required comprehensive long-range planning
– Authorized a wilderness review of BLM lands, like that of the FS
• Current BLM Programs
– Grazing – remains dominant use of BLM lands
– O&C lands (Oregon & California) from railroad companies
– Leasing oil & mineral rights on most federal lands
USDI: Fish and Wildlife Service
• established in 1940
– Charge: protection and restoration of migratory,
threatened and endangered species of wildlife
– From consolidation of former Bu. of Biological Survey
(USDA) and Bu. of Fisheries (Dept of Commerce)
– Origins in early conservation movement in late 19th
century
– Jay N. Darling from Iowa – first head of Bu. of
Biological Survey
USDI: Fish and Wildlife Service
• A New Agency
– Darling fought for wildlife program funding, helped promote PittmanRobertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act of 1937
– Pittman-Robertson authorized an 11% excise tax on sporting arms &
ammunition; allocates funds back to states
– Dingle-Johnson Act - provided tax on fishing equipment in 1950,
expanded to include boats & fuel in 1985
• Current Programs
– Oversees 443 national wildlife refuges, with more than 90 mill acres (77
million in Alaska, the rest are in continental US_
– Operates about 75 hatcheries, 50 coop research units at state
universities, and several research labs
– Monitors US wildlife populations, sets migratory bird hunting seasons
and limits, and distributes excise tax funds
USDI: Bureau of Indian Affairs
• Created in 1824 by the War Dept, added to USDI in 1849
• Charge: provides technical assistance to tribal gov’ts, help to obtain
maximum benefits from Native American resources
• Manages 3 mill ac of federal land on behalf of Native Americans
• 83 agency offices on reservations; employ about 10,000 people
• Native Americans have some reserved rights to hunt, fish, and
gather wood on other public lands
• Rights range from unlimited hunting and fishing in many western
states to logging timber (gathering wood) on some public lands in
the Lake Sates
The USDA Forest Service
• Transfer Act of 1905 – from USDI to USDA
– Organic Administration Act of 1897 – established custodial
management direction for the Forest Service
• Land Areas
– Owns 190.8 million acres of land in 1987
– National Forest System – 230 million acres; most national
forests are in AK & west (155 NFs)
– Not all lands are forested; some lands reserved for wilderness,
rangelands, etc.
– about 4 million acres are formally designated as National
Grasslands (23 NGs)
The USDA Forest Service
•
Policy and Issues
–
Use of clear-cutting as a silvicultural tool
–
Timber harvesting, regardless of methods used
–
Harvesting of old growth or ancient forests
–
Road building on national forests
–
Below-cost timber sales (ex. Harvesting in the Tongass National Forest)
–
Herbicide & pesticide use
–
Allowable sale quantities of timber
–
Site conversions
–
Silvicultural systems
–
Withdrawals of multiple use lands for wilderness
–
Use of timber sale revenues to fund wildlife and recreation management under the KnutsonVandenburgh Act
–
Inholdings, recreation pressures, visitor safety, wildlife management (same as in NPS)
–
Giving local counties payments-in-lieu-of property taxes
Other Public Lands
• The Department of Defense
– The Army Corps of Engineers
• State and Local
Modern Public Land Reservations
•
Wilderness (Wilderness Act of 1964) – LBJ signed Sept 3/64; now 91 million acres
-- “a wilderness … as an area where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man,
where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” Howard Zahniser of the Wsociety
-- created the National Wilderness Preservation System (in 2010: has 91 million acres)
•
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (2008: 11,000 miles in 166 rivers in 38 states&PR)
– Preserve rivers of national significance for present and future generations
– As of 1987: 75 river segments about 7709 miles under Wild & Scenic Rivers System
– 3 classifications: wild rivers, scenic rivers, recreational rivers
•
National Trails – National Trails System Act of 1968 (2010: 50,000 miles)
– Designed to preserve scenic and interesting trail routes for present and future use
– 3 classes of trails: national recreation trails, national scenic trails, connecting or side trails
– As of 1987: 14 designated federal trails, stretching more than 23,500 miles.
– National Trails may be designated only by Congress, administered by the USDI or USDA
Modern Public Land Reservations (cont.)
Alaska National Lands
– Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA)
of 1980: Largest modern public land reservation occurred in
1980 when Congress enacted
• Statehood and Native Claims
– Prior to statehood in 1959, about 99% of Alaska was federally
owned.
– Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971
• provided native groups with $1 billion cash settlement
• right to select 44 million ac of federal land from a pool of mostly
national forest lands
Modern Public Land Reservations (cont.)
•
The Tongass National Forest Controversy  below-cost timber sales
– Sect. 705a of ANILCA – set timber harvests at 4.5 billion bd ft. per decade
– Gives $40 million for USFS to maintain timber supply from Tongass
– Critics: revenues from timber sale much below costs of sale (ex. 1982: $234 cost
but revenues were $31 million)
– Critics: fisheries destroyed by harvests exceeded timber values
•
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Controversy  oil drilling in ANWR
– Alaska depends on oil taxes & revenues  85% of state’s income
– Oil deposits in ANWR could be connected with Trans-Alaska Pipeline
– US oil demand  prodded Congress for more exploration & drilling
– Congress cooled to the idea of drilling after oil spills in 1989 and 1990
– Environmentalists – tremendous influence by use of pictures, studies, and other
adverse effects of Exxon Valdez Spill in 1989
– STILL A RELEVANT ISSUE TODAY
Land Acquisitions
• Ongoing Purchases
• Land & Water Conservation Fund – authorizes funding for land
purchases in order to develop outdoor recreational facilities and for
wildlife purposes
• Illustration: The Land & Water Conservation Fund (1964)
– Establishment and Structure
– Revenue Sources and Disbursements
– Accomplishments
– Ongoing Issues
Summary