Federal Land by State

States compete with each other, but federal land policy hurts the Western States with large chunks or land owned by the federal government.

Federal Land was taken from the States to establish National Parks, National Forests, Wildlife Preserves and Monuments. This began in 1872 with the establishment of Yellowstone National Park and exploded after 1913 with the National Parks Act.  Now the federal government owns 28% of the 3.8 million square miles the US occupies.

The US Constitution prohibits the federal government from owning land beyond what it needs to function. Congress failed to file the necessary Amendment to allow the federal government to add this to their “enumerated powers”, because they didn’t think the States would ratify it. Federal Land is unconstitutional and illegal.

The Western States have been hit the hardest by denying them the use of large chunks of their land area. 

13 Western States have 20% to 84.9% of their land tied up as federal land. These States are listed below:

State % of Federal Land & State GDP

Nevada 84.9% $166.8 billion

Utah 64.9% $177.5 billion

Idaho 61.6% $74.6 billion

Alaska 61.2% $51.9 billion

Oregon 52.9% $257.2 billion

Wyoming 48.1% $39.1 billion

California 45.8%

Arizona 38.6% $340.3 billion

Colorado 35.9% $360.9 billion

New Mexico 34.7% $100.4 billion

Montana 29% $49.6 billion

Washington 28.5% $535.6 billion

Hawaii 20% $94.4 billion

Western States with State GDPs below $200 billion would benefit from taking back control and ownership of the federal lands in their States.  State should be free to sell federal land to private owners, especially federal forest land that burns down every year.

36 Additional States have lesser percentages, but would be more than capable of owning their own land.

New Hampshire 13.8%

Florida 13.2%

Michigan 10%

Virginia 9.9%

Arkansas 9.4%

Vermont 7.8%

North Carolina 7.7%

West Virginia 7.4%

Minnesota 6.8%

South Dakota 5.4%

Wisconsin 5.1%

Mississippi 5.1%

Tennessee 4.8%

Louisiana 4.6%

South Carolina 4.4%

Kentucky 4.3%

Georgia 4%

Missouri 3.7%

New Jersey 3.7%

Maryland 3.1%

Alabama 2.6%

Delaware 2.4%

Pennsylvania 2.1%

Texas 1.8%

Indiana 1.7%

Oklahoma 1.6%

Massachusetts 1.2%

Ohio 1.2%

Nebraska 1.1%

Illinois 1.1%

Maine 1.1%

Rhode Island 0.8%

Kansas 0.5%

New York 0.3%

Iowa 0.3%

Connecticut 0.3%

The States with lower percentages of federal land should also take control of their federal lands. Trump should confront Congress and the Courts on the absence of Amendments on this issue. 

https://ballotpedia.org/Federal_land_ownership_by_state

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader