Public Land Sales as Innovative Environmentalism

During the 1970s, conflict over land development restrictions in the Lake Tahoe Basin intensified. Funding of costly land purchases to preclude development emerged as a key problem in implementing timely and effective environmental protection. This timing coincided with pressures for land sales in and adjacent to urban “islands” in the public land “sea” of the West. One result was enactment of Public Law 95–586, co‐authored by Congressmen Santini and Burton. Proceeds from public land sales near Las Vegas, Nevada, would be dedicated to purchase of environmentally sensitive lands in the Lake Tahoe Basin some 450 miles to the north. This study traces formation of the temporary coalition among local interests and Congressional leaders that yielded a possible model for future public lands conflict resolution. It then reviews and critiques the first four years of experience with implementation of the land sales element of the act. It concludes by suggesting some “fine tuning” which, if accepted by environmentalist groups at the national and local level, would point toward the use of the Santini‐Burton approach as a source of funds to be used for environmental protection in other areas

Business · Civil engineering · Environmental planning · Environmentalism · Geography · Land use · Las vegas · Political science · Structural basin · American Environmental and Regional History · Engineering · Environmental Justice and Health Disparities · Law

• Public Ownership of Land and the “Sagebrush Rebellion

  Open Access•Howard E Mccurdy•Policy Studies Journal•1984

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