In Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 the United States Constitution empowers the federal government with exclusive legislative authority like that exercised for
The federal government manages about 640 million acres (2.6 million km2) of land in the United States, which is about 28% of the total land area of 2.27 billion acres (9.2 million km2).[4][5] The majority of federal lands (610.1 million acres (2.469 million km2) 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 11.4 million acres (46 thousand km2) of land (about 2% of all federal land) is managed by the United States Department of Defense (DOD).[5] The majority of federal lands are located in Alaska and the Western states.[5]
The United States Supreme Court has upheld the broad powers of the federal government to deal with federal lands, for example having unanimously held in Kleppe v. New Mexico[6] 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."[1]
Lands held by the United States
The
In the 19th century, other bounty land and homestead laws were enacted to dispose of federal land.General Mining Law of 1872 and the Desert Land Act of 1877, have since been repealed or superseded.[18]
Between 1781 and 2018, the federal government divested itself of estimated 1.29 billion acres (5.2 million km2) of public domain land.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.[20][21] 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.[22]
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.[23][24] 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 privatization.[25]
From 1990 to 2018, the overall acreage held by the federal government decreased by 4.9% (i.e., from 646.9 million acres (2.618 million km2) to 615.3 million acres (2.490 million km2)).[5] Over that time period, the federal acreage held by the Bureau of Land Management and Department of Defense decreased by 10.2% and 56.8%, respectively, and the federal acreage held by the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service increased by 0.8%, 2.7%, and 5.0%, respectively.[5] Over the 1990–2018 time period, the largest decline in federal acreage was in Alaska (a decrease of 9.4%, or 23.0 million acres (0.093 million km2)) and in the 11 contiguous states of the West (a 3% decrease in federal land, or 10.7 million acres (0.043 million km2)).[5]
The four primary federal land holders are:
The fifth largest federal landowner is the
Together, the BLM, FWS, NPS, Forest Service, and DOD manage about 96% of federal land.U.S. Department of Energy.[5]
Federal land is concentrated in the Western United States. Nationwide, the federal government owns 27.4% of all land area. There are significant variations regionally; the federal government owns 61.3% of the land area in Alaska, 46.4% of the land area in the 11 contiguous Western states; and 4.2% of the land area of other states. The state with the highest percentage of land held by the federal government is Nevada (80.1%); the states with the lowest percentage of land held by the federal government are Connecticut and Iowa (0.3%).[5]
In the United States, acquired lands refer to a category of
In the United States, federal lands are often used for