ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on two of many issues facing federal lands and federal land management: policy reform ideas and controversy over the Antiquities Act. The Antiquities Act has played a crucial role in the growth of national park system, it has become a flashpoint for disputes from Alaska to Maine over protection and use of public lands as it has been used to protect large areas of land that are not under the administration of the National Park Service. Use of the Antiquities Act bears watching: using it to conserve and spotlight sites that mark important moments in American history, such as the new Cesar Chavez National Monument in California. McGreggor Cawley, in federal land, suggested that Westerners supportive of traditional and historic resource use had become alarmed by a number of factors that led to the version of "rebellion". Federal lands in the United States are breathtaking in their ecological scope, their bountiful natural resources, and their policy complexity.
