Public Land & Resources Law Review

Dedicated to Law, Policy, and Scholarship since 1980

One of the nation's oldest law reviews focused on public lands, natural resources, and Indian law, the Public Land & Resources Law Review is student-edited and based at the University of Montana's Alexander Blewett III School of Law.

Our publications, online journal, and signature events — including the biennial Public Land Law Conference and Jestrab Lecture on Water — connect students, scholars, and practitioners around the legal issues shaping the American West and beyond.

Current Issue

Volume 49, Issue 1 (2026)View issue

Featured Content

  • Article
    29 May 2026

    "In Keeping with the Constitution’s Original Design": History and Tradition in Federal Indian Law

    Meghanlata Gupta
    This Article examines the Supreme Court’s use of history and tradition in federal Indian law. In recent years, the Court has increasingly relied on Founding-era practices and historical traditions to determine constitutional meaning in areas such as firearm regulation, substantive due process, and religious liberty. At the same time, while the Founding-era record contains substantial evidence that Native nations were understood and treated as independent, sovereign political communities, this evidence has not yet been fully incorporated into the Supreme Court’s Indian law jurisprudence. Examining decisions from Oliphant to Castro-Huerta, this Article describes the Court’s approaches to historical analysis in Indian law cases and identifies areas where deeper engagement with the historical record could inform the doctrine. By centering Indian law within the broader history-and-tradition framework, this Article argues that more consistent applications of history support the robust conception of tribal sovereignty contemplated at the Founding.
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  • Article
    29 May 2026

    Salt in the Public Wound: The Public Trust Doctrine and the Great Salt Lake

    Shoshana Grossman
    This paper analyzes how the Utah PTD applies to the non- navigable tributaries that affect the GSL, and whether Utah must consider the PTD in water rights management. Section I explains the GSL case, outlining the issues, the Physicians’ claims, and Judge Scott’s order. Section II outlines the PTD in Utah. Section III first compares the GSL to other decisions applying the PTD to non-navigable water resources and water rights. Section III then assesses whether Utah’s PTD applies to non-navigable tributaries that affect navigable resources like the GSL, and what that may mean for water allocation in Utah. The paper concludes that the PTD applies to non-navigable waters in Utah and Utah must consider the PTD when evaluating allocation, supporting the Physicians’ claims that Utah has failed to protect the GSL.
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Current Articles