Explores ways to "unlock the gridlock" over federal land use, by taking a property rights approach to management decisions. The fundamental premise underlying this approach is that incentives matter. The book shows how incentives may be changed within the implicit status quo distribution of power.

This volume explores ways to "unlock the gridlock" over federal land use by taking a property rights approach to management decisions. The fundamental premise underlying this approach is that incentives matter. Under the current management regime the incentive for all actors is to fight in the legislative, regulatory, and judicial arenas in a zero-sum game where one party's gain is the other's loss. Such controversy will continue as long as the spoils of battle are left up for grabs in the political process. The chapters in this book offer some examples of how incentives may be changed within the implicit status quo distribution of power. Contents: To Fee or Not to Fee: The Economics of Below-Cost Recreation; Making Money on Timber Sales: A Federal and State Comparison; Reform of the 1872 Mining Law: A Primer; Cows, Cowboys, and Controversy: The Grazing Fee Issue; Greasing the Skids for a New Federal Oil and Gas Leasing System. Distributed for The Political Economy Research Center.