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 48, Issue 2 (2025)View issue

Featured Content

  • Comment
    15 May 2026

    Wilderness Watch v. U.S. Forest Service, No. CV 23-133-M-DWM, 2025 WL 2985292 (D. Mont. Oct. 23, 2025).

    Gardner Dee
    This comment argues that the District of Montana’s decision in Wilderness Watch v. U.S. Forest Service correctly applied the Ninth Circuit’s Kofa framework to strike down a multi-agency native trout restoration project in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, holding that the Forest Service unlawfully prioritized Yellowstone cutthroat trout conservation over the Wilderness Act’s mandate to preserve wilderness character. Dee further contends that while large wilderness watersheds offer valuable climate refugia for native coldwater fish, watershed-scale restoration projects will continue to conflict with the Act’s prohibitions on motorized and mechanized intrusions so long as agencies rely on helicopter transport and rotenone application at scale. Dee concludes that land managers must develop restoration strategies more carefully tailored to the Act’s preservation mandate, or courts will keep invalidating such projects as climate pressures on native trout habitat intensify.
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  • Comment
    15 May 2026

    Unleashing Consultation: Tohono O’odham Nation v. Department of Interior and the Case for Reforming the National Historic Preservation Act

    Elizabeth Tobey
    The Ninth Circuit’s 2025 decision in Tohono O’odham Nation v. Department of Interior highlights an ongoing failure by federal land management agencies to consult meaningfully with tribal nations as mandated by the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act. This article argues that the NHPA’s framework for tribal consultation enables federal land management agencies to sidestep meaningful engagement with tribes, undermining both cultural resource protection and the federal Indian trust responsibility. To address these deficiencies—particularly in the context of renewable energy development on federal public lands, directly at issue in Tohono O’odham Nation—this article proposes amendments to the NHPA informed by tribal co-management principles, emphasizing shared decision-making authority and sustained federal–tribal relationships.
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