San Antonio College Library

At the present time, the United States federal government retains title to roughly a quarter of the nation's land, including national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and several hundred million miscellaneous acres. Managing these properties is expensive and often contentious, and few management decisions escape criticism. Some observers, however, argue that this criticism is misdirected, that the fundamental problem is collective ownership itself;...

The controversy over the apportionment of Federal lands in the West known as the Sagebrush Rebellion is examined in the light of the past history of land use and abuse in the United States.