Federal Public Land and Resources Law
Eighth Edition (2022)

John D. Leshy, Robert L. Fischman and Sarah Krakoff

Casebook Outline

Plus, view supplementary materials, topical updates and book errata with a click or tap.

Chapter 1. Public Land Law: An Introduction

  1. The Field of Public Land Law
  2. The Federal Lands and Resources
  3. Management: Federal Land Institutions
    1. The National Forest System
    2. The BLM Public Lands
    3. The National Wildlife Refuge System
    4. The National Park System
    5. The Preservation Lands and Other Special Categories
    6. The Legal Offices
    7. The United States Congress
    8. The Special Case of Alaska
    9. Summary of Public Land Systems Today
  4. Principles of Resource Allocation and Management
    1. Solving the Tragedy of the Commons
    2. Ecosystem Management
      • Robert B. Keiter, Toward a National Conservation Network Act
    3. The Socio-Economics of Public Lands

Chapter 2. History of Public Land Law: Ownership Rights and Obligations

  1. Acquisition of the Public Domain
    1. From the Original Colonies
    2. From Foreign Nations
    3. From Indian Tribes
      • Johnson v. M’Intosh
  2. Disposition of the Public Domain
    1. The Disposition System
      1. The Survey and Early Land Laws
      2. Disposition by Foreign Governments
    2. State Lands and Trust Doctrines
      1. The Equal Footing Doctrine
      2. Resistance to Federal Land Ownership
        • United States v. Gardner
      3. The Scope of State Submerged Land Ownership
        • PPL Montana, LLC v. Montana
      4. State Trust Obligations
        • Illinois Central Railroad Co. v. Illinois
      5. State Duties for Express Grants
        • Trust Problems
      6. Other Grants to States
    3. Grants to Private Parties
      1. Farmers and Ranchers
      2. Reclamation
      3. Timber
      4. Miners
      5. Railroads
        • Camfield v. United States
  3. Withdrawal, Reservation, and Reacquisition
    • United States v. Gratiot
    • United States v. Gettysburg Electric Railway Co
    1. Forests and Parks
      • United States v. Grimaud
      • Light v. United States
    2. Mineral Resources
      • United States v. Midwest Oil Co
    3. Grazing
      • Omaechevarria v. Idaho

Chapter 3. Federal and State Authority on the Public Lands

  1. Federal Powers Applied Through the Supremacy Clause
    1. Jurisdiction Within Federal Enclaves
      • Fort Leavenworth R.R. Co. v. Lowe
      • Comment: Assimilation of State Law in Federal Enclaves
    2. The Property Clause
      1. Activities on Federal Land
        • Kleppe v. New Mexico
        • Comment: Nuclear Waste Disposal on Federal Lands
      2. Activities on Non-Federal Land
        • Minnesota v. Block
    3. Other Constitutional Authorities
  2. Preemption, Immunity & Federalism
    1. Federal Preemption
      • California Coastal Commission v. Granite Rock Co
      • South Dakota Mining Ass’n, Inc. v. Lawrence Cnty
      • Bohmker v. Oregon
      • Comment: Preemption Under the Mineral Leasing Act
    2. Federal Immunity and Cooperative Federalism
      • North Dakota v. United States
      1. Cooperative Federalism
        1. Revenue Sharing
        2. Management and Planning
      2. Delegation
        • National Parks & Conservation Association v. Stanton
        • Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics v. U.S. Forest Service

Chapter 4. Overarching Legal Issues

  1. The APA and Judicial Review
    1. Barriers to Judicial Review: The Procedural Obstacle Course
      1. Standing
        • Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation
      2. Exhaustion and Ripeness
        • Ohio Forestry Association, Inc. v. Sierra Club
      3. Reviewable Agency Actions
        • Norton v. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
    2. The Scope of Judicial Review
      • Northern California River Watch v. Wilcox
  2. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
    1. The CEQ Regulations: Timing and Scope of NEPA Analyses
    2. What Must an Adequate EIS Discuss?
      • Robertson v. Methow Valley Citizens Council
      • WildEarth Guardians v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management
    3. Mitigated FONSIs
      • Friends of Back Bay v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
  3. The Endangered Species Act
    1. Introduction and Overview
    2. Section 4: Listing and Delisting Species
      • In re Polar Bear Endangered Species Act Listing and § 4(d) Rule Litigation
      • Greater Yellowstone Coalition v. Servheen
    3. Section 7: The Action Agency’s Duty to Consult
      • Thomas v. Peterson
      • Comment: The ESA’s Duty to Conserve
    4. Section 9: The “Take” Prohibition
      • Babbitt v. Sweet Home Chapter
      • Comment: ESA Permits
    5. The Relationship Between Sections 9 and 7
      • Arizona Cattle Growers’ Ass’n v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
  4. Property and Contract Rights
    1. Regulatory “Takings” in Connection with Public Natural Resources
    2. Private Property Rights in Federal Lands
      • Comment: How Different Is Regulatory Takings Analysis
      • Where Federal Lands Are Involved?
      • What Are “Valid Existing Rights?
    3. Contract Rights
      • Mobil Oil Exploration and Producing Southeast, Inc. v. United States
      • Comment: What Provisions Should the Government Put in Its Contracts?
      • Comment: The “Sovereign Acts” Doctrine as a Government Defense

Chapter 5. Federal Land Management

  1. Access Across Non-Federal Land
    • Leo Sheep Co. v. United States
    • United States ex rel. Bergen v. Lawrence
  2. Access Across Federal Land
    1. R.S. 2477
      • Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance v. BLM
    2. ANILCA Permits
      • Colorado Wild v. U.S. Forest Service
    3. FLPMA Title V Permits
  3. Executive Withdrawals, Acquisitions, Sales, and Exchanges
    1. Presidential Actions
    2. Withdrawals Under FLPMA
      • National Mining Association v. Zinke
    3. Is Refusal to Authorize an Activity a Withdrawal Under FLPMA?
    4. Land Acquisitions
    5. Land Sales
    6. Land Exchanges
      • Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Dep’t of the Interior
      • Comment: Swapping Lands Between Federal Agencies
      • Comment: Federal-State Land Exchanges
  4. Organic Legislation and Planning
    • Robert L. Fischman, The National Wildlife Refuges: Coordinating a Conservation System Through Law
    • Norton v. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
  5. The Special Case of Alaska
    • Sturgeon v. Frost

Chapter 6. Water Rights

  1. The Acquisition of Water Rights on Federal Lands
    1. The Origins of Water Law on Federal Lands
      • California v. United States
    2. Federal Reserved (Winters) Water Rights
      • Arizona v. California
      • Cappaert v. United States
      • Comment: Groundwater and the Winters Doctrine
      • United States v. New Mexico
    3. Reserved Water Rights by Federal Land Category
      1. National Forests
      2. National Parks
      3. National Monuments
      4. National Recreation and Conservation Areas
      5. National Wildlife Refuges
      6. Wilderness Areas
      7. Wild and Scenic Rivers
      8. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Lands
    4. Modern Congressional Practice in Federal Land Reservations
    5. Settling or Adjudicating Federal Winters Rights
      1. Does the Executive Branch Have a Duty to File Reserved Rights Claims in Water Adjudications?
      2. Federal Participation in State Administrative Proceedings Concerning Water
  2. Beyond the Reserved Rights Doctrine: Other Means of Protecting Federal Interests in Water
    1. Water Rights Based on State Law
      • State v. Morros
    2. Federal Non-Reserved Water Rights
    3. Controlling Water by Regulating Access to Federal Land

Chapter 7. Hardrock Mining

  1. The Mining Law of 1872
    1. Securing Mineral Rights Under the Mining Law
      1. Minerals Subject to the Mining Law (“Locatable Minerals”)
        • Andrus v. Charlestone Stone Products Co
      2. What Federal Lands Are Open to the Mining Law?
      3. Locating Claims Under the Mining Law
      4. Rights of Mining Claimants Before “Discovery”: The Pedis Possessio Doctrine
        • Union Oil Co. v. Smith
        • Geomet Exploration, Ltd. v. Lucky Mc Uranium Corp.
      5. Gaining Rights Against the United States: Discovery of a Valuable Mineral Deposit
        • Castle v. Womble
        • United States v. Coleman
        • Comment: “Common” Versus “Uncommon” Varieties
        • Comment: Discovery of Oil Shale and Uranium
      6. Requirements for Maintaining Claims
        • United States v. Locke
      7. Privatizing or “Patenting” Claims
      8. Challenging the Validity of Mining Claims
      9. Implied Limits on Rights of the Claimant
        • United States v. Rizzinelli
        • United States v. Curtis-Nevada Mines, Inc.
    2. Modern Environmental Regulation of Operations on Mining Claims
      1. Forest Service Regulation
      2. BLM Regulation
      3. Forest Service Regulation: A Review of Court Decisions
      4. Does FLPMA Authorize BLM to Reject Proposed New Mining Operations?
        • Mineral Policy Center v. Norton
      5. Mine Waste and Mill Sites
        • Earthworks v. U.S. Department of the Interior
      6. A Potpourri of Modern Environmental Regulatory Issues
      7. The Vexing Problem of Long-Term Water Pollution
    3. Hardrock Mining in the Park and Refuge Systems
    4. Congressional Reform of the Mining Law
  2. Split Estates: What Minerals Are Reserved?
    1. Federal Minerals Under Private Surface
      • Watt v. Western Nuclear, Inc.
    2. Private Minerals Under Federal Surface

Chapter 8. Energy

  1. Mineral Leasing
    1. Competition and “Fair Market Value”
      • National Wildlife Federation v. Burford
    2. Mineral Leasing and Environmental Regulation
      • California v. Bernhardt
      • Copper Valley Machine Works, Inc. v. Andrus
      • Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership v. Salazar
    3. NEPA Tiering
      • Center for Biological Diversity v. Bureau of Land Management
    4. Climate Change
      • WildEarth Guardians v. Zinke
    5. Offshore Energy Development
    6. Geothermal Resources
    7. Coal Mining Regulation
      • Comment: Conflicts Among Leasable Minerals
  2. Split Estates: Where Mineral Interests Are Separated from
    • Surface Interests
    1. Federally Reserved Minerals Under Private Surface
    2. Private Mineral Rights Under Federal Lands
      • Minard Run Oil Co. v. U.S. Forest Serv.
      • Comment: Agency Split Estate Regulations and Application
  3. Solar and Wind Energy
    • Leshy, “Federal Lands in the Twenty-First Century”
    • Solar Energy Problem
    1. The Legal Framework
    2. The Siting Decision
    3. Diligent Development
    4. Duration
    5. Fair Market Value
    6. The Role of State Law and Policy
    7. Environmental Conditions
    8. Mitigation Measures: How Far Can the Government Go?
    9. Government Retention Versus Divestiture
  4. Hydropower Licensing
    • Escondido Mutual Water Co. v. La Jolla Band of Mission Indians
    • American Rivers, et al. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
    • Wisconsin Public Service Corp. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
    • Comment: Dam Decommissioning and Removal Problem

Chapter 9. Forests

  1. Traditional Forest Service Management
    1. The Multiple-Use, Sustained-Yield Act of 1960
    2. The Resources Planning Act of 1974
    3. Clearcutting and the Monongahela Decision
      • West Virginia Div. of Izaak Walton League of America v. Butz (“Monongahela” Decision)
  2. The National Forest Management Act
    1. Limitations on Logging
      1. Harvesting Methods and Physical Suitability
        • Sierra Club v. Espy
      2. Economic Suitability: “Below-Cost Timber Sales”
        • Comment: Nondeclining Even Flow (“NDEF”)
    2. Forest Service Planning Regulations
      • Cowpasture River Preservation Ass’n v. Forest Serv
    3. The Diversity Mandate & Ecological Science
      • Sierra Club v. Marita
      • Sierra Club v. Martin
      • The Lands Council v. McNair (“Lands Council III” Decision)
    4. Regional Planning: The Northwest Forest Plan
      • Conservation Northwest v. Sherman
  3. The National Forest Roadless Rule
    • Wyoming v. U.S. Dep’t of Agriculture
  4. Wildfire Management

Chapter 10. Livestock Grazing

  1. A Brief History of Livestock Grazing on Federal Lands
  2. Fundamentals of Public Land Livestock Grazing
    1. Introduction to the Taylor Grazing Act
    2. The Grazer’s Legal Interest in the Public Lands
      • United States v. Fuller
  3. Modern Administration of Livestock Grazing
    1. Rangeland Reform in the 1990s
      • Public Lands Council v. Babbitt
    2. Grazing Fees
    3. Enforcing the Range Code, or Not
    4. Grazing and Agency Planning Processes
    5. Individual Grazing Permits
      • Western Watersheds Project v. Salazar
    6. Annual Operating Instructions
      • Oregon Natural Desert Association v. U.S. Forest Service
    7. Delegating Grazing Decision-Making to the Ranchers
      • Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Hodel
  4. Market-Based Solutions to Grazing Controversies
    • Public Lands Council v. Babbitt
    1. Retiring Public Land from Grazing by Agency Action
    2. Who Is Entitled to Hold a Grazing Permit?
    3. Congressional Authorization for Grazing Retirements
  5. The Future of Federal Lands Grazing

Chapter 11. Wildlife

  1. The National Wildlife Refuge System
    1. History and Issues of Administration
    2. Cooperative Federalism
      • State of Wyoming v. United States
    3. Substantive Management Criteria
      1. Integrity, Diversity, and Environmental Health
      2. Compatibility
        • Delaware Audubon Society v. Secretary of the Interior
        • Comment: Wildlife Management in the National Parks
  2. Wildlife Management on Multiple-Use Lands
    • Defenders of Wildlife v. Andrus (Alaska Wolf Kill)
    • Comment: Protecting Subsistence Uses of Wildlife on Federal Lands
  3. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act
    • Sierra Club v. Martin
    • Humane Society of the United States v. Glickman

Chapter 12. Recreation

  1. Acquisition of Lands for Recreation: The Land and Water Conservation Fund
    • Friends of Shawangunks, Inc. v. Clark
  2. The National Park System
    1. NPS Organic Legislation in the Courts
      • Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance v. Dabney
    2. NPS Management Policies
      • Management Policies
    3. Rationing Recreational Use
      • River Runners for Wilderness v. Martin
    4. Special Recreational Overlays
      • U.S. Forest Serv. v. Cowpasture River Preservation Ass’n
      • Comment: Recreation Overlays in Multiple-Use Systems
  3. Recreation Fees, Concessions and Permits
    1. Recreation Fees
    2. Recreation Concessions & Permits
  4. Motorized, Off-Road Recreation
    • Sierra Club v. Clark
    • WildEarth Guardians v. Montana Snowmobile Ass’n
    • Comment: Snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park
    • Comment: Personal Watercraft in National Parks
  5. Federal Liability for Recreational Mishaps
    1. Application of State Law to the United States
      • Otteson v. United States
    2. The Discretionary Function Exception
      • Johnson v. United States
      • Reed v. U.S. Department of the Interior

Chapter 13. Preservation

  1. Wilderness Preservation
    1. The Origins of Federal Wilderness Preservation
    2. Expanding the NWPS
      1. The National Forest System
      2. Bureau of Land Management Lands
        1. The Inventory Process
        2. Interim Management: FLPMA § 603(c)
          • State of Utah v. Andrus
      3. The Future of Wilderness Designation
    3. Wilderness Management
      1. Prohibitions
        • The Wilderness Soc’y v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv.
      2. Exceptions to Prohibitions
        • Wilderness Watch v. Mainella
        • Wilderness Watch v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv
        • Sierra Club v. Lyng (I)
        • Sierra Club v. Lyng (II)
      3. Livestock Grazing
      4. Other Wilderness Management Issues
  2. River Preservation
    1. Designating Wild & Scenic Rivers
    2. Managing Wild & Scenic Rivers
      • Newton County Wildlife Ass’n v. U.S. Forest Serv
      • Oregon Natural Desert Association v. Green
  3. Preservation of Marine Resources
    • Craft v. National Park Service & National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
    • United States v. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co

Chapter 14. Heritage and Native Nations

  1. National Monuments and the Antiquities Act
    1. Judicial Challenges to Monument Proclamations
      • Tulare County v. Bush
    2. National Monuments and Justice
  2. Religious Freedom on Public Lands
    1. Constitutional and Statutory Framework
      • Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association
      • Navajo Nation v. U.S. Forest Serv.
    2. Tribal Sacred Site Management Agreements
  3. Archaeological and Historical Resources
    1. Archaeological Resources
      • United States v. Shivers
    2. Historical Resources
      • Muckleshoot Indian Tribe v. U.S. Forest Serv.