The Proposed Transfer of BLM Timber Land to the State of Oregon: Environmental and Economic Costs

Contributor Roles

Jonathan Lovvorn, Attorney, United States Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, Pacific Northwest Region.

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Land and Water Law Review

Journal Abbreviation

Land & Water L. Rev.

Abstract

This article, expanding on an earlier essay, http://ssrn.com/abstract=2985925, explains the environmental and economic problems with a congressional bill that would have transferred federal Bureau of Land Management lands managed to the state of Oregon. The article explores the statutory framework governing the so-called 'O & C lands," including the Oregon and California Lands Act of 1937, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Northwest Forest Plan. The article also examines judicial interpretations of those statutes and the plan as applicable to the O & C lands. The article concludes that the proposed transfer would have produced considerable adverse environmental effects as well as imposing economic costs for which the state of Oregon was ill-equipped to pay.

First Page

353

Last Page

412

Publication Date

1997

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