The Rise of Urban Archipelagos in the American West: A New Reservation Policy?

Rapid population growth in the western US during the last 50 yr has resulted in the formation of urban archipelagoes and an increasing preference that public lands be devoted to preservation and recreation rather than extraction. Similarities between Federal Indian and public lands policy in the 19th century and public lands policy today are examined to discuss how the law should respond to this new preference. The new public land use paradigm is argued to impose significant detrimental impacts on rural communities and is largely a product of majority self-interest. The interests of rural communities and their ties to the land suggest that greater skepticism and diminished certitude should form the public land use transition now underway.