Natural Resources Law Clinic Guide: Secondary Sources

Available on Westlaw. A basic reference for attorneys dealing with complex legal issues involving federal lands or resources. It covers federal land use planning and the latest legislative, regulatory, and case law developments affecting the law of federal management and allocation of our natural resources.

This Concise Hornbook is a comprehensive, user-friendly review of the full range of important natural resources law issues. It surveys cases, statutes, regulations, legal developments, and policies that have shaped, and will continue to influence, natural resources law throughout the 20th century and the early 21st century. Topics include resource economics, jurisdictional and litigation constraints, the National Environment Policy Act (NEPA), public lands, wildlife, preservation, recreation, rangeland, timber, mining, and energy. 

Natural resources law is a dynamic field of practice, with a rich history that reaches back several centuries. The authors look at current challenges and offer ideas about the future while demonstrating that the federal government's role continues to be a complex one as markets and private actors become more visible participants in the current policy arena. Part I provides foundational analyses of the law, while the second part reviews thematic issues in the area.

ILTF worked in partnership with the Indian Law Resource Center (indianlaw.org) to develop a set of 17 General Principles of law that create a legal framework to guide the future development of federal law relating to Indian land and resources. The resulting publication, Native Land Law: General Principles of Law Relating to Native Lands and Natural Resources, published by Thomson Reuters, provides a comprehensive overview of the General Principles and an extensive legal analysis of relevant federal law.

This book provides a brief historical overview of public land law in the United States and analyzes the constitutional basis for ownership and regulation of federal lands and natural resources. It covers the statutory basis for determining appropriate uses for federal lands and for assessment of the environmental impacts of activities on those lands. It also analyzes the rules governing planning and management of the water, mineral, timber, range, wildlife, recreation, and preservation resources on federal lands. Finally, it covers important recent public land law developments - in Congress, in the land management agencies, and in the courts.