From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sagebrush rebels
Sagebrush rebels
Sagebrush rebels is a group that attempted to influence Presidential Commission, the Outdoor Recreational Re-
environmental policy in the American West during the sources Review Commission (ORRRC)[2] chaired by Lau-
1970s and 1980s, surviving into the 21st century in public rence S. Rockefeller, whose 1962 report suggested legisla-
lands states (generally, the 13 western states where fed- tion to protect recreational resources in a "national sys-
eral land holdings include 30% to more than 50% of a tem of wild and scenic rivers," a national wilderness sys-
state’s area), and surviving in organized groups pressur- tem, a national trails system, the federal Land and Water
ing public lands policy makers, especially for grazing of Conservation Fund, and recreation areas administered
sheep and cattle on public lands, and for mineral extrac- by then-existing public lands agencies beyond National
tion policies. Parks and National Monuments (both of which are ad-
An extension of the older controversy of state vs. fed- ministered in the Department of the Interior by the Na-
eral powers, Sagebrush Rebels wanted the federal gov- tional Parks Administration).
ernment to give more control of government owned Much of the wildland was sagebrush, not particularly
Western lands to state and local authorities. This was pretty to look at, but useful for grazing, off-road vehicle
meant to increase the growth of Western economies. use, and other development. Some advocates urged that,
Ronald Reagan declared himself a sagebrush rebel in an instead of designating more federal wilderness protec-
August 1980 campaign speech in Salt Lake City, Reagan tion, some or much of the land be granted to states or pri-
told the crowd, "I happen to be one who cheers and sup- vate parties. These advocates took on phrase "Sagebrush
ports the Sagebrush Rebellion. Count me in as a rebel."[1] Rebellion" to describe their opposition.
Reagan was faced with opposition with conservation or-
ganizations. This struggle persists today after changing
form, with the "wise use movement" in 1988. George H.
Public lands history
W. Bush helped work around restrictive environmental Complaints about federal management of public lands
laws to help mining, ranching, and real estate developing constantly roil relations between public lands
industries that created jobs in the states. users—ranchers, miners, researchers, off-road vehicle
The term "Sagebrush Rebellion" was coined during (ORV) enthusiasts, hikers, campers and conservation ad-
fights over designation of National Wilderness lands, es- vocates—and the agencies. Ranchers complain that graz-
pecially in western states, and especially after the Na- ing fees are too high, that grazing regulations are too
tional Forest Service (NFS) and Bureau of Land Manage- onerous, and that promised improvements to grazing on
ment (BLM) conducted required surveys of plots of public federal lands does not occur. Miners complain of restrict-
lands of at least 5,000 acres (20 km²) that were unroaded, ed access to claims, or to lands to prospect. Researchers
after 1972, for potential designation as part of the Na- complain of the difficulty of getting research permits,
tional Wilderness Preservation System. This process was only to encounter other obstacles in research, including
known as the Roadless Area Review and Evaluation uncooperative permit holders and, especially in archae-
(RARE, or later, RARE I). The process developed signifi- ology, vandalized sites with key information destroyed.
cant opposition by environmental groups and by public ORV users want free access, hikers and campers and con-
lands users, and was challenged in federal court. Results servationists complain grazing is not regulated enough,
of RARE I were tabled by the courts for lack of uniform some mineral lease holders abuse other lands, and ORV
criteria for evaluation of lands and other procedural use destroys the resource. Each of these complaints has a
problems, and a second review started in 1977, known long history.
as RARE II, involving more than 60 million acres Federal holding of public lands was originally an ac-
(240,000 km²) of wildland under federal jurisdiction. cident of history. Among the first pieces of legislation
RARE II was completed in 1979. Controversy, and lack passed under the U.S. Constitution was the Northwest Or-
of support from the Reagan administration starting in dinance, which was designed to dispose of lands the fed-
1981, largely sidelined a formal, national wilderness as- eral government held after state claims were conceded,
sessment. Congress has designated several wilderness ar- in the Northwest Territories (now Michigan, Wisconsin,
eas since 1981, sometimes using data acquired through Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana). The Constitution makes no
the RARE processes. specific provision for the federal government to hold any
The National Wilderness Preservation System grew lands other than the federal reserve for the capital (the
out of recommendations of a Kennedy-administration District of Columbia); the hypothesis was that all lands
would be sold or granted into private ownership.
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sagebrush rebels
In order to encourage settlement of western lands, the imposition of a totalitarian socialist regime at the
Congress passed the Morrell Act in 1862, granting parcels radical worst.
in 40-acre (160,000 m2) increments to homesteaders who Newly-elected Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, joined in
could maintain a living on land for a period of time. land transfer legislation in 1977, after loud complaints
Congress also made huge land grants to various railroads from ranchers and oilmen from Utah, coupled with
working to complete a transcontinental rail system. strong support from several Utah county governments.
Much of these latter grants intentionally included min- By late 1979 Hatch was the one legislator most interested
eral- and timber-rich lands, so that the railroads could in land transfers. He sought to introduce a transfer bill
get financing to build. Again, the hypothesis was that the that would get hearings and potential action. Upon ad-
railroads would sell off the land to get money. vice of members of the Utah Wilderness Commission, ap-
Ultimately, however, it turned out that much land pointed by Utah Governor Scott Matheson, Hatch agreed
west of the Missouri River was too wild for home- to leave National Parks and National Monuments in fed-
steading, because of mountainous terrain or lack of avail- eral hands, and he drafted a bill that would allow states to
able water. By the early 20th century, the federal gov- apply for control over selected parcels. With 16 cospon-
ernment held significant portions of most western states sors, he introduced the bill in 1980, and again in 1981.
that had simply not been claimed for any use. Conserva- Partly because Hatch’s bill dealt with major objections to
tionists prevailed on President Theodore Roosevelt to set previous bills, news outlets for the first time covered the
aside lands for forest preservation, and for special scien- bill as if it had a serious chance of passing. This provid-
tific or natural history interest. Much land still remained ed a huge morale boost to long-aggrieved public lands
unclaimed, even after such reserves were initially set up. users other than conservationists, and started a two-year
The Department of Interior held millions of acres in the newspaper, radio and television fight for the legislation.
western states (with Arizona and New Mexico joining the Ultimately Hatch’s bill got little more than press at-
union by 1913). President Hoover proposed to deed these tention. The election of Ronald Reagan as president put a
lands to the states in 1932, but the states complained friend to the Sagebrush Rebels in the White House. Rea-
that the lands had been overgrazed and would in oth- gan appointees slowed down or closed down wilderness
er ways impose a burden on cash-strapped state budgets. designation legislation, and by Reagan’s second term, the
The Bureau of Land Management was created to manage Sagebrush Rebellion was back to simmering on the back
much of that land. burner of federal land management agencies.
Congressional support for the References
Sagebrush Rebellion [1] Coates, James, "Sagebrush Rebellion On Hold,
Group Lights Other Legal Fires," Chicago Tribune,
Various bills to transfer federal public lands to western Mar. 16, 1996 http://articles.chicagotribune.com/
states had been proposed after 1932, all failing to garner 1986-03-16/news/8601190635_1_sagebrush-
much attention, let alone action. Among key objections rebellion-national-parks-sierra-club
to such transfers were the increasing value to the federal [2] See William K. Reilly’s forward to the Report of the
treasury of mineral lease receipts, and complaints that President’s Commission on Americans Outdoors, a
the "crown jewels" of the national lands holdings, the Na- 1987 report, in the Island Press edition (1987) p. ix.
tional Parks, could not be managed adequately or fairly
by individual states. Yellowstone and Yosemite National
Parks were considered to be national treasures, and few Further reading
legislators would concur with turning them over to the • R. McGreggor Cawley, Federal Land, Western Anger: The
states. Sagebrush Rebellion and Environmental Politics,
The spark that turned these complaints into a "rebel- University of Kansas Press, 1993.
lion" was the enactment in 1976 of the Federal Land Pol- • Wade Hage, Storm Over the Rangelands: Private Rights in
icy and Management Act (FLPMA), which sought to es- Federal Lands, 1989. (A defense of grazing rights).
tablish a system of land management by the BLM, rec- • Daniel Kemmis, This Sovereign Land: A New Vision for
ognizing that most of the BLM holdings would not be Governing the West, Island Press, 2001. ISBN
turned into private hands. While FLPMA required BLM to 1-55963-842-7
plan land use accommodating all users, specifically nam- • Robert Henry Nelson, Public Lands and Private Rights:
ing ranching, grazing, and mining, it also introduced for- The failure of scientific management, Rowman &
mal processes to consider preservation of the land from Littlefield, 1995.
ranching, grazing and mining. Western land users re-
garded the act as a bureaucratic power grab at best, or
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sagebrush rebels
External links • "1980 Sagebrush Rebellion" from the Forestry
History Society
• "A Guide to the Records of The Sagebrush Rebellion, • Text of a 1980 article in U.S. News and World Report
Collection No. 85-04 at the University of Nevada - from the University of Virginia Digital History
Reno Libraries Special Collections Center
• "SageBrush Rebellion Collection No. 32" at the
University of Colorado Denver Library
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sagebrush_rebels&oldid=457784239"
Categories:
• Political history of the United States
• Environment of the United States
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