PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OF LAND AND THE "SAGEBRUSH REBELLION"

ABSTRACT Advocates of “privatization” argue that the sale of public lands to private owners would significantly improve the management of natural resources. Experience from the first round of land sales suggests that the government, responding to the politics of the Sagebrush Rebellion, will continue to subsidize preferred uses of “privatized” lands through give–aways, below–par purchases, preference sales, and imperfect sales. Even though the federal government may go ahead with the land sales program, political compromises will not allow the free market goals of privatization to be realized.