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Background on RS 2477:
An Opportunistic Public Lands Grab
The outdated Revised Statute 2477 states simply, “The
right-of-way for the construction of highways over public lands, not
reserved for public uses, is hereby granted.” In 1866, this statute
was passed in part to permit highway construction to help commerce
move from town to town over federally owned lands. In 1976, the
Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) repealed the obsolete
statute, but did not invalidate claims that could be shown to be
established and valid prior to 1976.
In the 1980s, as federal land management agencies
inventoried roadless lands to see if they qualified for wilderness
protection, development and off-road advocates and anti-federal
government extremists mobilized in opposition. County and state
officials resurrected the old RS 2477 statute, arguing that it gave
them unrestricted access to Western national parks, national forests,
national wildlife refuges, national monuments, and wilderness areas.
For an RS 2477 claim to be granted, those pressing the
claim must show that a “highway” was “constructed” across U.S.-owned
land either before the land was set aside for other uses or before
1976 (when the law was repealed). Unfortunately, in 1988, the Interior
Department (under Jim Watt’s successor Secretary Donald Hodel) issued
guidance that was intended to unleash a flood of bogus claims over
federal lands, and it worked. Subsequent attempts by Secretary Bruce
Babbitt to develop more balanced validity regulations were blocked by
pro-development forces in Congress. As of January 2003, a policy put
in place by former Secretary Babbitt in response to congressional
action prevents the Interior Department from awarding most claims, but
Secretary Norton announced that this policy would likely be reversed
in early 2003.
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