The Public Land Law Review Commission (PLLRC), 1964-1970

Boxes 494-509 (16 boxes)

On October 15, 1962, the 87th Congress House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee Chairman Wayne N. Aspinall (D-Colorado) wrote to President John F. Kennedy suggesting the need for a broader examination of public land policy and inviting submission of the President's views to the 88th Congress. The President concurred and instructed the Secretaries of the Interior (Stewart Udall) and Agriculture (Orville Freeman) to represent him. On August 14, 1963, Chairman Aspinall introduced a bill to establish the Public Land Law Review Commission and on September 19, 1964, President Johnson signed Public Law 88-606 establishing the PLLRC with 19 members. The commission was charged to make a comprehensive review of the public land laws and the rules, regulations, policies and practices of Federal, state and local governments and agencies; recommend any necessary modifications and prepare a final report. Congressman Aspinall was named Chairman, six members were appointed by the President, six by the U.S. Senate and six by the U.S. House. The Senate and House members changed from time to time, because of election defeats and resignations. Thirty-four individuals were selected by the Commission and Federal agencies to serve as an Advisory Council. The commission was authorized to hire fifty-four staff members and Milton Pearl served as the Director from 1964-1970.

Congressman Morris K. Udall served on the Commission from 1967 to 1970, when the final report was issued and the commission disbanded.

Arranged chronologically within six broad series: the correspondence of Congressman Udall related to the commission; the PLLRC operational materials including background, history, correspondence, memos, press releases, personnel, procedures and public meetings, budget, transcripts, clippings, final reports, conferences and speeches; Chairman Aspinall's papers including correspondence, reference materials, clippings, and speeches; the subject study areas of the PLLRC; Director Milton Pearl's files and copies of reports which are also arranged by the same subject study areas. The subject study area files include draft and final reports, correspondence with contractors performing the studies and reviews of the reports.

The subject study areas include:

  • Acquisitions and Exchanges
  • Adjustments of Use Rights
  • Administrative Procedures
  • Alaska
  • Appraisal Techniques
  • Criteria
  • Demand
  • Disposal of Public Lands
  • Economic Impacts
  • Energy and Nonfuel Minerals
  • Environment
  • Fish and Wildlife
  • Forage
  • Independent Recovery and Coordinating Agency
  • Intensive Agriculture
  • Inventory
  • Land Disposal Techniques
  • Land Grants to States
  • Legislative Jurisdiction
  • Organization, Administration and Budgeting
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Outer Continental Shelf
  • Public Land - New Cities Acquisition and Exchange
  • Recreation
  • Regional and Local Uses
  • Revenue Sharing
  • State Land Policy Inventory
  • Timber
  • Trespass
  • Use and Occupancy
  • User Fees and Charges
  • Water
  • Withdrawals

Contains correspondence, telegrams, memos, press releases, annotated drafts of subject study area reports and final reports, reviews of reports, maps, clippings and speeches. The bulk of these files relate to the subject study areas listed above.

Deaccessioned from these series were duplicate copies of reports, correspondence, clippings, reference materials, government publications, memos, and routine commission administrative files including receipts for supplies, telephone, stamps, job requests, contractors expense vouchers, requests for publications and mass mailing postcards.

The Public Land Law Review Commission(PLLRC)

Box 494

  • 1-2 Udall Correspondence, 1969-70

Operational Records of the PLLRC:

  • 3-5 Background Materials, 1964-1970 (3)
  • 6-7 Clippings (2)
  • 8 History
  • 9 General and Correspondence
  • 10 Reports and Study Plans
  • 11 Objectives, Functions, Operations, 1966
  • 12 Procedures Notebook
  • 13-14 Public Meetings
  • 15 Correspondence
  • 16 Press Releases, 1964-1967
  • 17 Press Releases, 1967-1970
  • 18 Personnel
  • 19 Members
  • 20 Digest of Public Land Laws

Box 495 Aspinall Staff Conferences

  • 1 White House Comments on PLLRC
  • 2 Staff Memos, 1965-1967
  • 3 Staff Memos, 1968-1970
  • 4 Budget, 1971
  • 5 Milton A. Pearl-Advisory Council Members Statements
  • 6 Transcripts, 1966
  • 7-12 Final Report (6)
  • 13 Conferences, Denver, September, 1967
  • 14 II Proceedings-Interim Committee Concerned with Activities of PLLRC, 10/69
  • 15 Western States Land Commissioners, September, 1970
  • 16 Battelle Seattle Research Center, September, 1970
  • 17 Trail Lake, Wyoming, September, 1970
  • 18-19 Portland, Oregon, October, 1970 (2)
  • 20 Boise, Idaho, November, 1970
  • 21 Denver, November, 1970

Speeches:

  • 22-23 General(2)
  • 24 Chairman Aspinall, Director Pearl

Papers of Chairman Aspinall:

  • 25 Correspondence
  • 26 Reference Material
  • 27 Personal Clippings
  • 28-29 Speeches(2)

Box 496 Subject Study Areas of the PLLRC (A-E)

  • 1 Administrative Procedures
  • 2-4 Alaska (3)
  • 5 Map Supplements to Part III, Section A of Public Land
  • Policy and the Environment
  • 6 Appraisal Techniques and Procedures
  • 7 Discussion Papers for Guidelines for Retention or Disposition of the Public Lands, 1970
  • 8 Budget
  • 9 Contracts
  • 10 Criteria Study Plan
  • 11 Demand Study
  • 12 Economic Impact Study

Box 497 Subject Study Areas of the PLLRC (E)

Energy Fuels:

  • 1 Energy Fuels
  • 2 Coal
  • 3 Competitive Oil and Gas Leasing
  • 4 Oil Shale
  • 5-6 Environment and Ecological Factors(2)
  • 7 Exchanges and Acquisitions

Box 498 Subject Study Areas of the PLLRC (F-M)

  • 1 Federal Jurisdiction
  • 2 Fish and Wildlife
  • 3-4 Forage(2)
  • 5 Intensive Agriculture
  • 6 Inventory of Public Lands and Resources
  • 7 Issues
  • 8 Land Disposal Techniques & Procedures Study
  • 9 Land Grants to States
  • 10 Legislation-Commission
  • 11 Multiple Use

Box 499 Subject Study Areas of the PLLRC (N-R)

  • 1-2 Nonfuel Minerals(2)
  • 3 Oregon and California Grant Lands
  • 4 Organization, Administrative & Budgetary Policy
  • 5 Outer Continental Shelf
  • 6-7 Outdoor Recreation(2)
  • 8 Regional and Local Land-Use Planning

Box 500 Subject Study Areas of the PLLRC (R-U)

  • 1 Revenue Sharing
  • 2 State Land Policies
  • 3 Timber
  • 4-6 Use and Occupancy(3)

Box 501 Subject Study Areas of the PLLRC (U-W)

Use and Occupancy

  • 1 Letters Opposing HR 7211,and Favoring HR 9911
  • 2 Clippings-BLM and Land Use
  • 3 American Mining Congress
  • 4 Paper-Public Land Policy and the Environment
  • 5 Interstate Association of Public Land Counties
  • 6 User Fees and Charges
  • 7 Trespass
  • 8 Water
  • 9 Withdrawals and Reservations

Box 502 Director Pearl's Files (A-E)

  • 1 Acquisitions and Exchanges
  • 2 Adjustments of Use Rights
  • 3 Administrative Procedures
  • 4 Alaska
  • 5 Appraisal Techniques
  • 6 Disposal of Public Lands
  • 7 Economic Impacts
  • 8-9 Energy and Nonfuel Minerals(2)
  • 10 Environment

Box 503 Director Pearl's Files (F-O)

  • 1 Fish and Wildlife
  • 2 Forage
  • 3 Independent Recovery and Coordinating Agency
  • 4 Intensive Agriculture
  • 5 Inventory
  • 6 Land Disposal Techniques
  • 7 Land Grants to States
  • 8 Legislative Jurisdiction
  • 9 Organization, Administration and Budgeting
  • 10 Outdoor Recreation

Box 504 Director Pearl's Files (O-T)

  • 1 Outer Continental Shelf
  • 2 Public Lands-New Cities Acquisition and Exchange
  • 3 Recreation
  • 4 Regional and Local Use
  • 5 Revenue Sharing
  • 6 State Land Policies Inventory
  • 7 Timber
  • 8 Trespass

Box 505 Director Pearl's Files (U-W), Final Report

  • 1 Use and Occupancy
  • 2 User Fees and Charges
  • 3 Water
  • 4 Withdrawals and Reservations
  • 5 Draft Final Report
  • 6 Final Report - "One Third of a Nation"
  • 7 Subject Study Area Reports (unbound volumes)

Box 506 Bound Volumes: Administrative Procedures-Intensive Agriculture

  • 1 Administrative Procedures and the Public Lands/McFarland, Carl
  • 2-7 Federal Land Laws and Policies in Alaska, vols.1-5/Harkin, Duncan A.(5)
  • 8 Criteria for Public Land Decision/Hagenstein, Perry
  • 9-13 Energy Fuel Mineral Resources of the Public Lands, vols. 1-5/Abt Associates, Incorporated(5)
  • 14 Federal Legislative Jurisdiction/Commission Staff
  • 15-16 Fish and Wildlife Resources on the Public Lands/Colorado State University(2)
  • 17-20 Future Demands on the Public Lands/Bennett et al(4)Federal Public Land and Law Policies Relating to
    • 21-24 Intensive Agriculture/Kronick et al(4)

Box 507 Bound Volumes: Nonfuel-Public Land Policy

  • 1-6 Nonfuel Mineral Resources of the Public Lands, vols.1-6/Twitty, Sievwright, and Mills(6)
  • 7 Legal Study of Geothermal Resources on Public Lands
  • 8-9 Organization, Administration and Budgetary Policy, vols. 1 and 2/Stratton et al(2)
  • 10-16 Study of Outer Continental Shelf Lands of the United States, vols. 1-6 and Summary/Nossaman et al(7)
  • 17-20 Public Land Policy and the Environment, 4 vols./Heyman et al(4)

Box 508 Bound Volumes: Timber-Withdrawals

  • 1-5 Study of Public Land Timber Policy, vols. 1-4/Banzhof & Co.(5)
  • 6 Study of Trespass and Unauthorized Use of the Public Lands of the United States/Ireland et al
  • 7-10 Federal Public Land Laws and Policies Relating to Use and Occupancy, vols. 1-4/ Daniel et al(4)
  • 11 User Fees and Charges for Public Lands and Resources/ Commission Staff
  • 12-13 Study of the Development, Management, and Use of Water Resources on the Public Lands/Wheatley et al (2)
  • 14-16 Study of Withdrawals and Reservations of Public Domain Lands, vols. 1-3/Wheatley et al(3)Study Reports (hardcover bound volumes)
  • 17 Volume 5: The Forage Resource-University of Idaho/Regional and Local Land Use Planning-Ruth & Associates
  • 18 Volume 6: Study of Impact of Public Lands on Selected Regional Economies-Burghardt et al/Land Grants to States-Pearl et al/State Land Resources and Policies-Pearl et al/Appraisal Techniques and Procedures Utilized in Connection With Action Related to Federal Public Lands

Box 509 Study Reports (hardcover bound volumes)(continued)

  • 1 Volume 7: Inventory Information on Public Lands-Pearl/Land Disposal Techniques and Procedures/Barlowe et al Study of Outdoor Recreation Use of the Public Lands/Ruth & Associates
  • 2 Volume 8: Federal Public Land Laws and Policies Relating to Multiple Use of Public Lands-Davis et al/The Adjustment of Use Rights and Privileges-Commission Staff/Study of Land Acquisitions and Exchanges Related to Retention and Management or Disposition of Federal Public Lands/Wheatley