In 1979 the Nevada state legislature passed a bill providing for
state control of certain lands within the state boundaries under
the administration of the Bureau of Land Management. Arizona, New
Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming immediately followed suit. Public land
users reacted swiftly and the Sagebrush Rebellion was on.
Westerners, driven by the sheer size of the federal estate (99
percent of BLM lands are located in twelve western states) and
angered by what they perceived as undue influence by the
environmental movement on federal policies, sought to protect and
control the resource and recreational use of public lands that they
deemed essential to their state economies.
In this book, R. McGreggor Cawley objectively investigates the
Rebellion, looking at the driving force behind the movement, the
strategies used by the Rebels, and the consequences of the
controversy. He examines how the definitions of key federal land
management concepts, such as conservation, influenced policymaking
and explores tensions that pitted the West against other regions
and the federal government.
In the process, he analyzes James Watt's beleaguered tenure as
secretary of the interior and the Reagan administration's proposal
to sell federal lands and shows how the conflict created an
unexpected division within the environmental movement.
Going beyond the Rebellion, Cawley offers provocative
interpretation of events in federal land policy from the 1960s to
the 1990s and establishes a framework for assessing future
developments in federal land policy.
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