Collaborative Federalism: The Sage Grouse Solution to the Sagebrush Rebellion

Abstract

The federal government manages an estimated 643 million acres of public lands across the United States. Roughly 93 percent of those acres lie in 12 western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Starting in Utah in 2012, a movement calling for the transfer of federal lands gained traction in the other western states and with their representatives in Congress. Senator Orrin Hatch (RUT) vocally supported the Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1970’s and has continued to call for the transfer of federal lands to the states. Focusing on two states’ legislative actions, this article explores the similarities between the Sagebrush Rebellion and the current transfer movement. It posits that this movement is nothing new, but merely an extension of the decades-old debate over public lands ownership. The article then suggests solutions to the frustration in the West which are less permanent than transferring title to the states.