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.

Recent Case Summaries

Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management Erika Rader | January 6, 2026 The Ninth Circuit revisits the Willow Project oil drilling proposal in Alaska, weighing claims under NEPA, the Reserves Act, ANILCA, and the ESA — and ordering BLM to justify a key departure in its 2023 Record of Decision. [Read More →]

Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County Craig Rigdon | December 30, 2025 The Supreme Court issues a major "course correction" on how lower courts should evaluate NEPA-based challenges to federal agency decisions, streamlining project approvals while narrowing the path for environmental challenges. [Read More →]

[View All Case Summaries →]

Current Issue

Volume 48, Issue 1 (2025)View issue

Featured Content

  • Case Summary
    6 January 2026

    Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management

    Erika Rader
    The Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Bureau of Land Mgmt. marks the Ninth Circuit’s second time considering the Willow Project, which plans to drill oil in Alaska. Environmental plaintiffs brought a series of claims under NEPA, the Reserves Act, ANILCA, and the ESA to stop or stall the Project. Plaintiffs focused on the BLM’s use of a “full field development standard” in assessing alternatives to the Project. Despite the range of claims, the Ninth Circuit allowed the Project to move forward, but on remand required the BLM to explain its reasoning for departing from the full field development standard in the 2023 Record of Decision.
    Read More
  • Case Summary
    30 December 2025

    Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County

    Craig Rigdon
    The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 is a landmark in United States environmental law. For more than half a century, under its authority, all federal agencies contemplating proposed actions that pose significant environmental impacts have incorporated an analysis of those impacts into their decisions. These analyses provided an avenue for opponents to challenge an agency’s final decision in federal court. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court issued a “course correction” to rein in the disparate approaches that the lower courts had applied to cases challenging federal agency decisions on NEPA grounds. The unambiguous guidance the Court lays out for lower courts to follow when hearing such challenges streamlines the approval process for federal projects while promising to limit the success of challenges to those projects on NEPA-based grounds.
    Read More

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