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Dual Regulation, Collaborative Management Or Layered Federalism: Can Cooperative Federalism Models From Other Laws Save Our Public Lands?, Hope M. Babcock

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Few would assert that the current governance model for managing the nation's public lands, which grants exclusive authority to the federal government, has protected the natural resource values of those lands or provided a framework for the harmonious resolution of conflicts over their use. Dissatisfaction is apparent from recurrent proposals to privatize public lands or to devolve their ownership to the states. The emergence of the "wise use" and "county supremacy" movements directly challenges the authority of the federal government to manage its land. While this new state and local assertiveness is not without historical basis nor completely without merit, …