1980 Draft Report Concerning Transfer of Western National Forest System Lands to State Ownership

The U.S. Forest Service's Policy Analysis Staff Group prepared the Draft Report in order to provide information on the Sagebrush Rebellion and, specifically, in order to inform the debate surrounding Senate bill 1680. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch introduced S. 1680 as a means to transfer land from federal to state ownership, one of the main goals of the Sagebrush Rebellion.

The Draft Report offers 86 pages of analysis and commentary on the potential impacts of land transfer, including the following appraisal of the overall terms of the debate:

"The Sagebrush Rebellion can variously be characterized as an east-west conflict, an intraregional dispute, a States' rights issue, and a struggle between environmentalists and developers. Not unexpectedly policymakers seldom are faced with a single, well-defined issue, and it is in this light that the Sagebrush Rebellion must be viewed. The expressed concerns which form the basis for the Rebellion are complex and multi-faceted, and some go beyond the question of land ownership. There is no single set of motivations directing the supporters of the Rebellion. Rather, the motivations are diverse, being the product of both covert and overt driving forces and of both historical experience and the emergence of new political pressures and realities."

Source:

"Draft Report Concerning Transfer of Western National Forest System Lands to State Ownership, as Proposed by S. 1680" by Policy Analysis Staff Group, U.S. Forest Service (ca. 1980).