Revised Statute 2477
Revised Statute 2477, enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1866, was designed to facilitate the construction of highways across public lands, primarily to support the settlement of the Western states and territories. This statute granted individuals and government entities the right to establish roads across federal lands, thereby improving access for settlers and miners. However, by the 1970s, the interpretation of "highways" under RS 2477 became contentious, particularly regarding the conversion of dirt tracks into paved roads, especially within national parks. In response to growing concerns about environmental preservation, Congress repealed RS 2477 in 1976, while allowing existing rights-of-way to remain intact. This decision did not fully resolve the ongoing debates about land use, especially as minimal records existed documenting previously granted rights-of-way. The discussions have persisted, focusing on finding a balance between wilderness protection and access for recreation and commerce. In regions like the West and Alaska, conflicting interests have emerged, pitting the desires for greater road access against environmental conservation efforts and the rights of Native American tribes. The legacy of RS 2477 continues to influence land use and access issues across the United States today.
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Subject Terms
Revised Statute 2477
The Law: U.S. federal law that granted rights-of-way across public lands for the purpose of developing a system of highways
Dates: Enacted on July 26, 1866; repealed on October 21, 1976
The controversy over Revised Statute 2477 demonstrates the changing and competing demands in the United States for development and conservation, for private and public property rights, and for attracting and limiting access to wilderness.
Revised Statute 2477, which reads, “The right of way for the construction of highways across public lands, not otherwise reserved for public purposes, is hereby granted,” was approved by the U.S. Congress as part of the 1866 Homestead and Mining Act to encourage settlement of the Western states and territories. The law gave states, counties, and individuals the right to create roads across federal lands, making it easier for settlers to travel across the West and for miners to reach new claims. Under the statute, which became known simply as RS 2477, any person or government could create a road across public land to a town, homestead, or mine.
Controversy eventually arose regarding RS 2477 in the 1970’s, partly over the definition of the word “highways” in the statute. Clearly, the word did not carry the same meaning in the nineteenth century, before pavement and automobiles, as it did by the late twentieth century. Did the holder of a valid right-of-way for a dirt track through what was now a national park have the right in 1970 to convert it to a paved road? The statute had been enacted to make it possible for more people to get to wild sections of the West, but by the 1970’s it seemed more desirable to limit the numbers of people entering the wilderness, and to direct their traffic once there.
In 1976 Congress passed the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which repealed RS 2477. The new law stopped the granting of rights-of-way for new highways but specifically stated that existing rights-of-way would continue. This did not end the controversy, in large part because few records had been made of the rights-of-way already granted. Congress attempted in 1984 and again in 1996 to resolve questions about where roads could go on federal lands, who could build them, and what they could be used for, but debate continued about the proper balance between preserving wilderness and granting access to recreation and commercial areas, and no resolution was reached.
In the West, where public land was homesteaded in the nineteenth century and became private property, it remains unclear whether the public still has a right to use the land. Roads created under RS 2477 still exist, and riders of off-road vehicles have claimed that they retain the right to use the roads on these lands. Environmental groups such as the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance have argued that allowing old claims for right-of-way to develop into paved roads for recreational use will threaten wilderness areas in national parks, weaken private property rights, and weaken Native American tribal property rights. In Alaska debates continue between those who want to increase the building of roads across federal lands to make access to oil and gas fields easier and those who want to protect the Tongass National Forest and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from being fragmented by roads.
Bibliography
Havlick, David G. No Place Distant: Roads and Motorized Recreation on America’s Public Lands. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2002.
Keiter, Robert B. “Collaborative Conservation.” In Keeping Faith with Nature: Ecosystems, Democracy, and America’s Public Lands. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2003.