A Paradigm for Public Lands

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A Paradigm for Public Lands

• They are not accidents of history
• They reflect the decisions we, collectively, have
  made to produce particular goods and services
• from lands owned by the federal government,
  rather than
• from lands owned by the state governments, or
• from lands owned privately, by individuals or
  organizations

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A Paradigm for Public Lands
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Minnesota Recreation
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Commercial Timberland in Minnesota
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Title Transfers in Minnesota
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Production of Goods and the Provision of Services

• Public
• Private - Under coercion
• Regulation
• Financial Incentive taxation, loan,
  infrastructure construction (water treatments,
  sewers, roads)

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Federal Lands

• Since the objective of federal domestic policy
  was to privatize the nation's land surface
• Why does the federal government still possess
  title to approximately one third of it?

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Basic Processes

• The federal government acquired jurisdiction
• Congress signed treaties with American Indian
  groups in which the aboriginal title of the
  groups was extinguished giving the United States
  "fee title" to land  
• The ceded lands were surveyed, divided up into
  conveniently sized parcels, and title to them
  conveyed to individuals, corporations, and even
  states  
• Congress created governments to define and
  guarantee the rights of those who acquired real
  property (land)

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Federal Land Conveyances
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Federal Land Conveyances in Minnesota
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Federal Public lands

• Various definitions
• Any land or interest in land owned by the United
  States without regard to how the United States
  acquired ownership
• Excludes
• lands located on the Outer Continental Shelf
• lands held for the benefit of Indians, Aleuts,
  and Eskimos
• lands inside reservation boundaries owned by
  Indians
• trust lands inside and outside reservation
  boundaries

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Public lands

• Public domain lands, lands that either
• have never left Federal ownership or
• have been acquired in exchange for public domain
  lands or for timber on public domain lands
• B. Acquired lands lands that were acquired
• voluntarily purchase, donation, exchange
• involuntarily condemnation or forfeiture

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General Resources

• Public Land Statistics (Bureau of Land
  Management)
• Public Lands Museum (Public Lands Interpretive
  Association)
• Recreation.gov
• Land Areas Report (Forest Service)
• The Evolution of the Conservation Movement
  (Library of Congress)
• How and why to privatize federal lands (Cato
  Institute)
• Should Congress transfer federal lands to the
  states? (Cato Institute)

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1796-1934 Privatizing land the principal
objective

• 1796-1812  Early attempts to privatize land under
  Congressional supervision
• 1812-1946  Privatizing land - the federal real
  estate agency the General Land Office
• 1812-1862  Land as a source of revenue
• 1862-1935  Land as a subsidy for settlement -
  homestead, railways, etc
• 1872 Yellowstone National Park established
• 1891 President authorized to reserve forest land
  still in federal ownership
• 1906 President authorized to protect antiquities
  on federal land

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1796-1934 Privatizing land the principal objective

• 1911  Weeks Act, allowing the USDA to acquire
  privately owned cutover forestland for watershed
  purposes
• 1924  Clarke-McNary Act, allowing the USDA to
  acquire cutover forestland for forestry
  demonstration purposes
• 1934 The Taylor Grazing Act ending privatization
  in general
• 1946 The Bureau of Land Management established as
  successor to the General Land Office
• to manage lands owned by the federal government
  and not reserved
• 261 million acres of land, primarily in the 12
  Western States and Alaska

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Gross Statistics

• Conveyed to Individuals
• Homestead 287,500,000
• Military bounties 61,000,000
• Private land claims 34,000,000
• Timber and stone    13,900,000
• Timber culture 10,900,000
• Desert land 10,700,000
• Railroad corporations  94,400,000
• Miscellaneous  303,500,000
• Grand Total  1,144,380,000     
       

• Conveyed to States
• Schools 77,630,000
• Swampland 64,920,000
• Railroads 37,130,000
• Other institutions  21,700,000
• Miscellaneous 117,600,000
• Canals and rivers 6,100,000
• Wagon roads 3,400,000
• Total to States  328,480,000

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Major Uses of Federal Land

• Rural Uses
• National Park System
• National Forests
• National Grasslands
• Wilderness Areas
• National Wildlife Refuges
• Reservoirs

• Urban Uses
• Federal Courthouses
• Customs Immigration Posts
• Federal Reserve Banks
• Post Offices
• Flood Control Structures
• VA Hospitals
• EPA laboratories
• National Cemeteries
• Federal Buildings in Minnesota (GSA)

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The Range of Federal Lands

• Federal Courthouses
• Minneapolis Courthouse Site
• Bureau of Mines property
• Fort Snelling National Cemetery
• The Minneapolis Federal Reserve Building
• General Services Administration Real Estate
  Services

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Federal Land Management Agencies

• Approximately 650 million acres of land (28 of
  the nation's surface area) are owned by the
  federal government
• Federal government once owned as much as 80 of
  the surface area but disposed of 1.1 billion
  acres to individuals, corporations, and states
• Four agencies manage 96 of the federal land
• The USDA Forest Service (1905)
• The DoI National Park Service (1916)
• The DoI Fish and Wildlife Service (1940)
• The DoI Bureau of Land Management (1946)
• Each of these agencies possesses its own mission
  and responsibilities for managing the lands, and
  their resources, under its jurisdiction
• Each has acquired title to land throughout its
  existence

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National Forests, National Parks, National
Grasslands, National Wildlife Refuges
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Disposing of Military Bases
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American Indian Reservations
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• The Department of the Interior manages 445
  million surface acres, including 56 million
  acres of lands held in trust for American
  Indians
• Many of these lands are managed as separate
  units, including
• 379 national parks
• 74 national monuments
• 521 wildlife refuges
• 742 dams
• 57,000 buildings
• 3 billion acres of Outer Continental Shelf lands
• The Bureau of Land Management manages 264
  million acres of land, almost 12 nations total
  surface area and about 40 of all federal lands,
  land primarily located in the 11 western states
  and Alaska

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Question of Jurisdiction

• Nowhere comprehensively compiled
• Article 1 Section 8 (Jurisdictional clause)
• The Congress shall have Power to exercise
  exclusive Legislation in all Cases
• whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten
  Miles square) as may, by
• Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance
  of Congress, become the Seat
• of the Government of the United States, and to
  exercise like Authority over all
• Places purchased by the Consent of the
  Legislature of the State in which the
• Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts,
  Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and
• other needful Buildings

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Question of Jurisdiction

• Article IV Section 3 (Property clause)
• The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and
  make all needful Rules and
• Regulations respecting the Territory or other
  Property belonging to the United
• States and nothing in this Constitution shall be
  so construed as to Prejudice any
• Claims of the United States, or of any particular
  State

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Minnesota Statutes 1.042 (Laws 1943 c 343)

• Subdivision 1. The consent of the State of
  Minnesota is given in accordance with the
  Constitution of the United States, Article I,
  Section 8, Clause 17, to the acquisition by the
  United States in any manner of any land or right
  or interest in land in this state required for
  sites for customs houses, courthouses, hospitals,
  sanitariums, post offices, prisons,
  reformatories, jails, forestry depots, supply
  houses, or offices, aviation fields or stations,
  radio stations, military or naval camps, bases,
  stations, arsenals, depots, terminals,
  cantonments, storage places, target ranges, or
  any other military or naval purpose of the United
  States
• Subd. 3. Conditions and reservations. The right
  of the state to cause its civil and criminal
  process to be executed in any ceded land or place
  is reserved to the state.  The state also
  reserves the right to impose the following taxes
  ....

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Minnesota jurisdiction on the Lands

• Minnesota Statutes 1.041 (Laws 1943 c 343)
• Except as otherwise expressly provided, the
  jurisdiction of the United States
• over any land or other property in this state
  owned for national purposes is
• concurrent with and subject to the jurisdiction
  and right of the state to cause its
• civil and criminal process to be executed there,
  to punish offenses against its
• laws committed there, and to protect, regulate,
  control, and dispose of any
• property of the state there

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Minnesota cession of jurisdiction

• Minnesota Statutes 1.045 (Laws 1943 c 343)
• Consent of the State of Minnesota is given to the
  acquisition by the United States
• in any manner authorized by act of Congress of
  lands lying within the original
• boundaries of the Chippewa National Forest and
  the Superior National Forest for
• any purpose incident to the development or
  maintenance of those forests,
• subject to concurrent jurisdiction of the state
  and the United States as defined in
• section 1.041

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Piecemeal acquisition of the lands, piecemeal
acquisition of jurisdiction

• Voyageurs National Park
• Federal Legislation (Pub. L. 91661, Jan. 8,
  1971, 84 Stat. 1970 16 USC 160 et seq)
• Minnesota Statutes 84B.061 (Laws 1995 c.124)
• Minnesota Statutes 1.045  (Laws 1995 c.124)

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Federal lands comprise two groups

• Lands the federal government has always owned
  lands that were never sold or granted to
  individuals, corporations, or states
• never offered under the federal land statutes
  surveyed after 1891 when the President was
  authorized to establish forest reserves and
  subsequently reserved forests, parks,
  antiquities, wildlife refuges
• never acquired by individuals, corporations, or
  states considered "worthless"
• B. Lands that the federal government reacquired
  after having conveyed them to individuals,
  corporations, or states
• acquired voluntarily - purchases, exchanges,
  donations
• acquired involuntarily - through condemnation,
  confiscation, bankruptcy proceedings

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Federal Forest Lands

• Weeks Act 1911
• Clark-McNary Act 1924 amended the Weeks Act,
  expanding it to allow the Forest Service to
  purchase lands needed to produce timber and to
  enter into agreements with the states to protect
  state owned and private lands against fire
• Also continued the cooperative relationships with
  nonfederal forestry programs formalized by the
  Weeks Act
• CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Extensions of Remarks E1044

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Federal Forest Lands
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Federal Forest Lands

• US Forest Service
• Superior National Forest
• Chippewa National Forest

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Public-Private Mix of Landownership
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National Park Service in Minnesota

• 16 US Code National Parks, Military Parks,
  Monuments and Seashores
• Voyageurs National Park
• Wild and Scenic Rivers Legislation
• St Croix National Scenic Riverway
• Lower St. Croix
• Mississippi National River Recreation Area
• Pipestone NM
• Grand Portage NM
• North Country National Scenic Trail
• Park Histories

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Chronology of the National Parks
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Voyageurs National Park

• Contains 218,054 acres - 134,265 acres of land
  and 83,789 acres of water
• Authorized on January 8, 1971 (16 USC 160 et seq)
• The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to
  establish the Voyageurs National Park in the
  State of Minnesota, by publication of notice to
  that effect in the Federal Register at such time
  as the Secretary deems sufficient interests in
  lands or waters have been acquired for
  administration .
• Formally established on April 8 1975 (40 FR
  15921)
• National Park Service Site
• Voyageurs National Park Association
• Snowmobile Restrictions in Voyageurs NP
• Minnesota Statutes 2007
• The Political Geography of National Parks
  (Pacific History Review 2004)

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St Croix Wild Scenic River

• Upper St Croix authorized in Wild Scenic Rivers
  Act of 1968 (16 USC 1271 et seq)
• The Lower St. Croix River added in 1972
• National Park Service Site
• Time and the River A History of the St. Croix
  (Karamansky, 2002)
• Endangered? The Scenic St. Croix
• St Croix River Crossing (Minnesota DoT)

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US Fish Wildlife Service in Minnesota

• National Wildlife Refuge Legislation
• Upper Mississippi Fish Wildlife Refuge
• Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge
• Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge
  Protection Act of 1999
• Impact of Airport Expansion on the Minnesota
  Valley NWR (House Committee on Resources)

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• Land Acquisition Planning (USFWS)

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