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I think any scheme to reduce federally owned land to private ownership will require some sort of broad based local support. Broad representation at the local government level and substantial decision making power at the local government level will be essential for establishing a private ownership scheme on what is now federal forest land. Getting to private ownership quickly in order to rescue poorly managed forests should inspire the creation of broad based county boards to decide boundaries of prospective private tracts, ownership qualifications, and how emissions of air borne pollutants and quality of water leaving a privately owned tract would be regulated. It would also seem essential to have some sort of broad based local government body to determine how and by what means privately owned forest land is accessed by public transportation. I don't know about any other county but for the county I live in, a 21 member board, 11 from districts and 10 at large, would be an appropriate level of representation for a population of about 12,000. I'd limit any regulatory scheme to one page single space in whatever type size is common for county government.

Local residents need to have access to civil courts to challenge whether smoke emissions from privately owned forest land is avoidable through good forest management policies. Same with with water temperature, oxygen, and silt levels.

Private property owners should own improvements in temperature, oxygen, and silt levels in water leaving their private tracts. Private property owners should own improvements in recreation opportunities. I would like to see a scheme where improvements in recreation opportunities and improvements in temperature, oxygen, and silt levels could be bid on as mature trees would be.

I like to take a simpler and more incremental approach to carving up Federal lands. The split estate model is to me the most appealing, where local practitioners would identify an operation that they think they can do more efficiently than government can on a contract or leasehold basis. It would slowly evolve into a system of overlays. Market consolidations and Federal auctions would then complete the process.

I would rather see privatization attack endangered species management, weed management, fisheries, grazing, forestry... I don't think we're ready to deal with the airborne pollutant market yet because we don't have a good handle on the function of mitigating and naturally generating processes, although I do propose a silt market in the book as an example of what might be done. I don't try to spend much time telling people what the goals or transactable media should be, simply because I think that local entrepreneurs need to think that through and apply their own intelligence to that problem. The instrumentation and modeling capacity on the necessary resolution doesn't exist. Most of that stuff is top down design and IMHO will never get there.

As far as a market based management system design under which to accomplish those goals is concerned, there is one. I'm the author.