Interest Groups and the Implementation of Public Lands Programs: Conformity or Capture?

Charles Davis
Sandra Davis

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DOI: 10.2190/PJHG-JBAN-EWYC-JQ49

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to examine public lands decision making in Wyoming with a particular emphasis on relationships between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administrators and their constituencies. Did this agency exhibit symptoms of "regulatory capture" in view of the Sagebrush Rebellion and the election of a development-oriented president in 1980, or did it, in fact, institutionalize pluralistic access patterns as a result of 1970s environmental legislation? The authors analyzed these questions using data from a survey of federal resource administrators and Wyoming citizens judged to be involved and influential in affecting land use decisions (including representatives from resource user groups, environmental organizations, and advisory boards). They concluded that public lands decisions as perceived by professional administrators and organizational participants tended to represent multiple rather than single interests, thereby rejecting the hypothesis that BLM is dominated by a particular group or industry.

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