Localism in environmental policy: New insights from an old case

Determining the appropriate balance between local and national interests is an enduring issue in public and environmental policy. Study of this issue, however, has been impeded by the theory of agency capture. This paper demonstrates the limitations of capture theory with respect to localism and provides a new perspective on the issue by revisiting the cas of the U. S. Division of Grazing, a common example in the literature of a captured agency. Until now, the over-extension of capture theory to this case has obscured the division's extensive efforts to balance local and federal influence over rang policy and prevent domination by large private interests. At the center of this struggle was a prominent legal dispute over local control involving Colorado sheepherder Joseph Livingston. As a detailed debate over political representation and the merits of localism, the Livingston cas holds important lessons for modern community-based conservation efforts seeking similar policy goals.