Withdrawals of Public Lands and Changes in Primary Use: The Process and Importance to Conservation


Course Description

We will examine the federal process of withdrawing and reserving certain public lands for a designated purpose and how withdrawal/reservation can be used directly or indirectly to achieve land conservation and open space goals. We will explore the laws, regulations and policies regarding the management, administration, and use of withdrawn public lands and contrast these conditions to those that prescribe “multiple-use” management for most of the lands under U.S. Forest Service and BLM jurisdiction. “Withdrawing” federal lands means to withhold them by executive or legislative action from settlement, sale, location, or entry under some or all general land, mining, and mineral laws to limit or prohibit activities normally permitted under those laws. “Reserving” federal lands means designating withdrawn areas for specified public (or governmental) purposes or programs. Although only a relatively small proportion of federal lands are affected by the withdrawal and reservation process, the effect on those areas so effected can be of tremendous local, regional, state, and national interest. We will examine a number of long-established and very recent case studies in Arizona relative to the use of federal land withdrawals to establish or renew national wildlife refuges, national monuments, and military ranges. These withdrawals and their associated reservations significantly affected such land use issues as public recreation, livestock grazing, minerals development, protection/conservation of wildlife, watershed protection, utility corridors, national defense and other uses. Consideration will be given to the specific steps (including environmental impact and land use trade-off analyses) that are required to secure a land withdrawal and reservation. We will also examine how a federal land withdrawal also may affect changes in the use, and possibly ownership, of State Trust Lands and private properties.

Class Readings

  • Antiquities Act 1906 [Download PDF]
  • FLPMA of 1976 [Download PDF]
  • Alaska Resolution Against Withdrawals [Download PDF]
  • Public Land Orders 1999-2000 [Download PDF]
  • APG Position [Download PDF]
  • Seminar 1 Notes [Download PDF]
  • Engle Act [Download PDF]
  • Sonoran Desert National Monument Proclamation[Download PDF]
  • Military Withdrawals[Download PDF]
  • Withdrawals in Arizona[Download PDF]
  • Withdrawal History and Case Studies [Download PDF]
  • BMGR 1980 Withdrawal EIS [Download PDF]
  • MLWA 1986 Summary [Download PDF]
  • MLWA 1986 [Download PDF]
  • MLWA of 1999 Summary [Download PDF]
  • MLWA 1986 Law Review [Download PDF]
  • BMGR EIS Volume I [Download PDF]
  • BMGR EIS Volume II [Download PDF]
  • BMGR Community Report [Download PDF]
  • Ironwood Forest National Monument Proclamation [Download PDF]
  • Ironwood PrePlan Laws and Acts [Download PDF]
  • Ironwood Preliminary Draft Alternatives [Download PDF]
  • Ironwood Scoping Report [Download PDF]
  • Closed Bases Turn Cash Cow [Download PDF]
  • Public Land Sales [Download PDF]
  • Proposal to sell Forests is ridiculed [Download PDF]
  • State Trust Land Reform Overview [Download PDF]
  • Trust Lands in the American West: A legal Oveview and Policy Assessment [Download PDF]
  • State Lands Within Withdrawals [Download PDF]
  • Draft Legislative Environmental Impact Statement (LEIS) for BGRLW [Download PDF]
  • Draft Legislative Environmental Impact Statement (LEIS) for BGRLW (Figures)
  • LsGBMtns OHVAreas VRM Mineral WildernessCharacteristics [Download PDF]
  • Lr Sonoran Prelimary Draft Management Alternatives [Download PDF]
  • LS GBMtns Recreation [Download PDF]
  • LS PhxS Land Tenure [Download PDF]
  • LSGBMtns Natural Cultural RscAl locations [Download PDF]
  • Yuma Alt Grazing [Download PDF]
  • Yuma Alt Habitat [Download PDF]
  • Yuma Alt Lands Mins [Download PDF]
  • Yuma Alt OHV [Download PDF]
  • Yuma Alt Recreation [Download PDF]
  • Yuma Alt Special Areas [Download PDF]
  • Yuma Alt Vegetation [Download PDF]
  • Yuma Alt WHB [Download PDF]
  • Yuma Alt Wilderrness [Download PDF]
  • Yuma burro horse management [Download PDF]
  • Yuma Existing Management Summary [Download PDF]
  • Yuma Final Scoping Report [Download PDF]
  • Yuma map2 [Download PDF]
  • Yuma preliminary alternatives 7-05 [Download PDF]
  • Yuma quartzite land status [Download PDF]
  • Yuma transportation [Download PDF]
  • Yuma Wildlife [Download PDF]
  • Seminar 5 Slides [Download PDF]
  • Ironwood Final MSA [Download PDF]
  • BMG Public Health and Safety Technical Report [Download PDF]
  • BMG Hazardous Materials/Hazardous Waste Inventory [Download PDF]
  • BMG Air Quality Technical Report [Download PDF]