Follow the Money

The federal estate distinguishes the American West. Glance at any map and you see the colorfully sequestered national forests, parks, refuges, and more. For decades, scholars have shown, typically with praise, how those boundaries came to exist. In the last generation, historians have added nuance and critiques, showing the ways public land management has marginalized populations or harmed ecological integrity. But Follow the Money: A Spatial History of In-Lieu Programs for Western Federal Lands offers something different in both focus and form. In this collaborative enterprise with Stanford’s Spatial History Project, a group led by Joseph E. Taylor III have produced a website and data source that hopes to increase “awareness of how environmental, social, and fiscal policies are entangled in the political economy of federal lands.” The subtitle and description lack flashy marketing terms often associated with iconic federal lands, but this tone is entirely appropriate. Follow the Money eschews grandeur for nitty gritty.

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