Little empirical research pertaining to the distribution impacts of land use policy exists and a substantial research effort is warranted. This paper is a modest effort to increase interest in funding and conducting such research. The paper is divided into two major sections. The first section focuses on a case study of forest and range policy and the resulting changes in regional income distribution. The importance of this type of research is developed and the possibility of using very common empirical tools of the economist to conduct the research illustrated. The final portion of this first major section illustrates the results and types of policy implications which can be drawn from them. The second major section gives research needs in a broader sense.