For over a century, American have created laws, processes, objectives, priorities, and rules for federal land management that often conflict with each other. We now have inconsistent laws, unclear priorities, procedural mazes, and an antiquated bureaucratic structure. The result is a loss of public benefits and undesirable impact on natural resources. The author argues for major changes and offers new ideas for how those changes can be accomplished.

Small-town Idaho, where everyone knows your business, is no place for a baby dyke to go looking for love. Especially when murder and homophobia are stalking the streets. For Wilhelmina "Bil" Hardy, trapped in the coils of her eccentric family and off-the-wall friends, neither the course of true love nor amateur sleuthing runs smooth. Mistaken identity, misunderstandings, and mysteries galore take Bil to places she's never dreamed of visiting. Idaho Code is a funny book about love, family, and the freedom you can find in a state that values individuality more than common sense. Joan Opyr's hobbies are politics, politics, and politics, though, for the sake of variation, she has been known occasionally to dance the polka.

Federal land ownership and management are of perennial interest to Congress. This book describes the constitutional authority for federal land ownership. It provides the history of federal land acquisition and disposal, and describes the federal land management agency, jurisdictions, based on congressional authorities to reserve or withdraw lands from disposal. Included in the book are also backgrounds on the various agencies that administer and care for the 6.55 million acres of federal land.

Ketchum's lovely color photographs of landscape and nature are accompanied by Callison's essay on the history and policies of the US Forest Service and the need for reform. The pictures are captioned with statistical narrative about how much is gone or is being destroyed, how much has been spent and

The federal government owns 655 million acres (29%) of the nearly 2.3 billion acres of land in the United States. Four agencies administer 628 million acres (96%) of this land: the Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture, The Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service, all in the Department of the Interior. The majority of these lands are in the West. They generate revenues for the US Treasury, some of which are shared with states and localities. These agencies receive funding from annual appropriations laws, and from trust funds and special accounts (including the Land and Water Conservation Fund). The lands administered by the four agencies are managed for a variety of purposes, primarily related to conservation, preservation, and development of natural resources. Yet, each of these agencies has distinct responsibilities for the lands and resource it administers. This new book provides an overview of how federal lands and resources are managed, the agencies that manage the lands, the authorities under which these lands are managed, and some of the issues associated with federal land management. The book is divided into nine chapters. In the conclusion of the book, is an appendix of acronyms used in the text, and another defining selected terms used in the report.

The federal government is running huge budget deficits, spending too much, and heading toward a financial crisis. Federal spending soared under President George W. Bush, and the costs of programs for the elderly are set to balloon in coming years. Hurricane Katrina has made the federal budget situation even more desperate. In Downsizing the Federal Government Cato Institute budget expert Chris Edwards provides policymakers with solutions to the growing federal budget mess. Edwards identifies more than 100 federal programs that should be terminated, transferred to the states, or privatized in order to balance the budget and save hundreds of billions of dollars. Edwards proposes a balanced reform package of cuts to entitlements, domestic programs, and excess defense spending. He argues that these cuts would not only eliminate the deficit, but also strengthen the economy, enlarge personal freedom, and leave a positive fiscal legacy for the next generation. Downsizing the Federal Government discusses the systematic causes of wasteful spending, and it overflows with examples of federal programs that are obsolete and mismanaged. The book examines the budget process and shows how policymakers act contrary to the interests of average Americans by favoring special interests.