Federal lands

thumb|450px| [[Federal government of the United States|Federally managed lands in the 50 states, including subsurface rights. This map includes federal lands held in trust for Native Americans, which may not be considered federal lands in other contexts.]]

[[File:US federal land.agencies.svg|thumb|Federal lands via managing government bureau

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In the United States, federal lands are lands owned and managed by the United States federal government. Pursuant to the Property Clause of the United States Constitution (Article 4, section 3, clause 2), Congress has the power to retain, buy, sell, and regulate federal lands. These powers have been recognized in a long series of United States Supreme Court decisions.

In Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 the United States Constitution empowers the federal government with exclusive legislative authority like that exercised for Washington, D.C., over "Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, Dock-yards, and other needful Buildings."

The federal government manages about of land in the United States, which is about 28% of the total land area of . The majority of federal lands ( or 95 percent area in 2015) are administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Park Service (NPS), or United States Forest Service (USFS). BLM, FWS, and NPS are part of the United States Department of the Interior, while the Forest Service is part of the United States Department of Agriculture. An additional of land (about 2% of all federal land) is managed by the United States Department of Defense (DOD). that "the complete power that Congress has over federal lands under this clause necessarily includes the power to regulate and protect wildlife living there, state law notwithstanding." There are some of land held in trust by the federal government for Indian tribes and almost of land held in trust by the federal government for individual Natives. Although the United States holds legal title to these lands, the tribe or individual holds beneficial title (the right to use and benefit from the property). As a result, Indian Country is "quasi-private, not public, land." During the Revolutionary War, military bounty land was promised to soldiers who fought for the colonies. After the war, the Treaty of Paris of 1783, signed by the United States, the Kingdom of Great Britain, France, and Spain, ceded territory to the United States. In the 1780s, other states relinquished their own claims to land in modern-day Ohio. Land was sold so that the government would have money to operate. In 1812, Congress established the United States General Land Office as part of the Department of the Treasury to oversee the disposition of these federal lands. By the early 1800s, promised bounty land claims were finally fulfilled. These included, among others, the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Desert Lands Entry Act of 1877. These include cash entry, credit, homestead, Indian, military warrants, mineral certificates, private land claims, railroads, state selections, swamps, town sites, and town lots. The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 allowed leasing, exploration, and production of selected commodities, such as coal, oil, gas, and sodium to take place on public lands. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 established the United States Grazing Service to manage the public rangelands by establishment of advisory boards that set grazing fees. The Oregon and California Revested Lands Sustained Yield Management Act of 1937, commonly referred as the O&C Act, required sustained yield management of the timberlands in western Oregon.

The Sagebrush Rebellion movement in the Western United States in the 1970s and the 1980s sought major changes to federal land control, use, and disposal policy in 13 western states in which federal land holdings include between 20% and 85% of a state's area. Supporters of the movement wanted more state and local control over the lands, if not outright transfer of them to state and local authorities and/or

From 1990 to 2018, the overall acreage held by the federal government decreased by 4.9% (i.e., from to ).

Together, the BLM, FWS, NPS, Forest Service, and DOD manage about 96% of federal land.

Uses

In the United States, federal lands are often used for environmental conservation. In 2023 alone, the Executive turned 12.5 million acres into protected areas.

Uses

See also

References

Further reading