FEDERAL

LANDS
By: Shannon Calley, Ross Golden-Weathers, Camille
Spencer, Andres Ospina, Evan Lang

History of Federal Lands in the

U.S.
Land Management and regulation first began with the

movement out west. (Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest

Ordinance of 1787)

1871

first expedition into the Yellowstone region.

Influence of Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore

Roosevelt 1901-1909 presidency;

known as U.S. conservationist president
came out west and encountered extinction of
big game species.

"We

have become great because of the

lavish use of our resources. But the time has
come to inquire seriously what will happen
when our forests are gone, when the coal,
the iron, the oil, and the gas are exhausted,
when the soils have still further
impoverished and washed into the streams,
polluting the rivers, denuding the fields and
obstructing navigation." Theodore Roosevelt

Instilled

environmentalist ideas in the nation

20th Century Land Management

Bureau

of Land Management established by

President Harry S. Truman in 1946
Handles around 1/8 of the land mass in the
United States
Motto is "to sustain the health, diversity, and
productivity of the public lands for the use
and enjoyment of present and future
generations."

The Bureau of Land Management

US Forest Service
>192

million acres of national forests and grasslands

Management

programs:

National forests and grasslands

Private land
Urban forests
Wilderness
Natural resources
Fire

US Fish and Wildlife Service

Emphasizes

conservation rather than

preservation
Conservation: protection of resources,
species, etc. so that they may be used and
managed (wisely)
Preservation: protection of resources,
species, etc. based on the inherent value of
nature

National Park Service

The

National Park Service was established to

protect and help people experience America's
special places and their stories.

<http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/management.htm>

Theodore

Roosevelt contributed much land to the

park system during his presidency prior to the
establishment of the NPS

Created

in 1916 as a service to oversee all of the

previously designated areas as well as all future
protected lands

BUNDY RANCH

What????

-20 year legal dispute

-BLM v Cliven Bundy
-South East Nevada
-Unpaid grazing fees
-81.1% of NV is federal land

BLM
Rangelands controlled by BLM since
1934
-Grazing permits issued in 1954
-18,000 grazing permits, 700 in NV
-Land use stipulations in leases
-

Cliven Bundy
-1993: Cliven Bundy did not renew
his permit
-Does not recognize Federal
Government
-Will not submit to police control of
land in sovereign state of Nevada
-Insists the land is his, but no laws in

-November 98, Bundy

threatened with
$2.00/cow/month fine
-Did not pay
-Cattle trespassing on
Bunkerville Allotment and

Now?

-March 27, 14 over 145,000 acres of

Clark County closed for capture,
impound, and removal of trespass cattle
-Armed disputes in April 14

-Utah governor Gary Herbert (R) suggests

that people east of the rockies
dont/cant understand these types of
issues because the scale over on their
side is so great

Standoff video Graphic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=LhJ6H9vlEDA

Fracking in George Washington

-Forest Service allows fracking on
forest lands throughout the country
-Political issue here is over principal
-Worth of this area is low
-GW management plan not updated
from 1993 until November 2014

George Washington National Forest

-Fracking was approved in Augusta and Rockingham

-177,000 acres (17%) of forest

-Horizontal drilling and hydraulic
fracturing
-10,000 acres already leased to gas/oil
firms
-Fear of poisoning local water supply

Local Opposition
-Augusta, Rockingham, Bath,
Arlington, Highland Counties, and
Roanoke, Lynchburg, Alexandria
Cities, among others oppose.

Now?
Final management plan bans drilling and
fracking for the next 15 years
U.S. Forest Services decision to protect the
integrity of the George Washington National Forest
by making all of it off limits for oil and gas drilling,
except for land already under gas lease and land
subject to private mineral rights.
-Shenandoah Valley Network
Forest Plan: http://www.fs.fed.us/gwjeff/index.php

Pros of Keystone Pipeline

Could

Potentially create thousands

of jobs.

Possibly

increase energy security

for golf coast through Canada.

Provides

a comparably safer
transporting option.

Cons
Could

Contribute to global warming, and hurt

the U.S. GDP.

Potentially
Focus

environmentally damaging.

on more sustainable and green-friendly

projects may create more jobs.

Policy

Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA)

1976
Repealed Homestead Acts
Homestead Acts
Homestead act of 1862,
Southern Homestead act of 1866,
Timber Culture act of 1873,
Kincaid Amendment,
Enlarged Homestead act and
Stock-Raising Homestead Act

Policy (cont.)
Grazing

permits
Issued by BLM
Taylor Grazing Act of 1934,
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969,
the Endangered Species Act of 1973,
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, and
the Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978.

Mineral

rights (estate)