ABSTRACT
As we noted in chapter 1, the crux of federal land management is the federal ownership of the land and its private use. Out of this interrelationship come all of the specific problems of federal land management. The public—however it is defined—naturally enough wants a voice in how its lands are managed, in much the same way that the stockholders in a corporation want a voice in how the company they own is run. No one really challenges this viewpoint today, but the hard questions are: Who is the public? How can it be involved most productively and satisfactorily? And when should the involvement take place? These are the issues I will consider briefly in this chapter.
