Working prototype. This is a possible library, shared so people can see it and weigh in. Nothing here is final, adopted, or endorsed by anyone — it's a draft for discussion. Tell us what you think →
Public Lands Library
An evidentiary archive of America's public lands — what we hold in common, and how well it's kept.
A third of America is public land — held in common for people who can't yet vote — and there is no shared, trustworthy record of how well it's being kept. The idea behind this library is to build one: a public library of the land — its history, its law, its ledger, and its record of stewardship — so that capture and neglect can't hide in the paperwork. Start with the lands that have a clear duty and a willing ally, and don't stop until the whole commons is on the shelf. This page is a prototype of that idea — shown early, on purpose, so people can shape it before it's built.
The idea: start small — two possible first collections
Exists today
America's School Trust Library
The school lands — the legally hardest case.
240 years of receipts on the lands set aside since 1785 for America's public schools: the history, the law (a complete hornbook), the ledger, and the live court record. A working library that's already built — and the model for everything here.
The national forests — graded, with the National Wildfire Alliance.
A mapped, sourced record of how well each fire on the public forests was prevented, fought, and honestly accounted for — built on the NWA Suppression Report Card and the 2009 Cost-Plus-Loss ledger. Not approved or endorsed by the National Wildfire Alliance or anyone else — a working prototype, built to show what's possible, and removable on request.
The idea of a floor plan — one architecture, filled collection by collection
The notion is that the same rooms could serve every collection. Several already exist in the School Trust Library — click through to see what a finished room looks like. The public-lands versions below are proposed, not built.
Reading Room
The curated record — anchor documents, topic shelves, a dossier per state and per forest.
Nothing here is decided. This is the moment to weigh in — and, if you like it, to help lay an early brick:
Tell us if this should exist at all. The whole point of showing it this early is to hear that.
Write a dispatch. Saw a fire mishandled, a parcel sold quietly, a plan stalled? The story and the documents — your byline, our verification.
Edit the hornbook. Foresters and public-lands lawyers: claim a chapter.
Bring your state or your forest in. Adopt one as its correspondent.
You'll see blanks and "proposed" labels throughout. That's deliberate — this is a draft shown in the open, and visible incompleteness is the honest starting point.