Q: How much land does the federal government own?
A: It controls about a million square miles, mostly in the West, according to the Congressional Research Service. Most of the land is managed by the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service.
The government owns 81 percent of Nevada, 66 percent of Utah, 62 percent of Idaho and Alaska and 53 percent of Oregon. It also owns significant portions of California and Wyoming, at 48 percent each; Arizona, at 42 percent; Colorado, at 36 percent; New Mexico, at 35 percent; Montana, at 29 percent; and Washington, at 28 percent.
Q: How did the government acquire so much land?
A: As the country expanded West, the federal government sought to protect some areas, such as Yellowstone National Park in 1872 and took control in the 1900s of unclaimed areas that were generally too harsh and difficult for homesteaders to make a living.
For example, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management administers much of the sagebrush steppe of the Great Basin, which is habitat for the imperiled sage grouse but unsuitable for farming.
Q: What’s special about the land in Oregon?
A: President Theodore Roosevelt created the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 1908. Administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the 300-square-mile refuge is partly a marshland that’s a key rest area in the Oregon high desert for migrating birds.
The number of migrating shorebirds qualifies the refuge as a Regional Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve, the wildlife service says. It also supports more than 20 percent of the state’s breeding population of greater sandhill cranes, as well as many other species.
