United States v. Curtis-Nevada Mines, Inc.

Curtis-Nevada Mines (defendant) located and filed unpatented mining claims on federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, both of which allowed the public to use such land for recreation without a permit. Curtis-Nevada nonetheless posted no-trespassing signs and built barricades to keep hunters, hikers, and other recreational users off the land. The federal government (plaintiff) sued, asserting the public's right to use the land under § 4(b) of the Surface Resources Act of 1955, which subjected mining claims to the government's management of "other surface resources" and to use by "permittees and licensees." The district court found recreational use fell within "other surface resources," but read "permittees and licensees" narrowly to mean only people holding a formal written permit; the government appealed that narrower ruling.