By Ada C. Montague

The decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Appeals Court) in Hage VI raises the question of what it means to own the right to use stock water and perform range improvements on public, federal lands. In Hage VI the Appeals Court altered a trend of favoring private property rights on public lands by reversing the Court of Federal Claims (Claims Court) decision to award the Hage family $14.2 million for government takings of private property interests on public lands.

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