Public land

Examples of public domain land are the margins of the sea and of the rivers, roads, streets, railways, ports, military areas, monuments.

The trust lands (two sections, or about 1,280 acres (5.2 km2) per township) are usually managed extractively (grazing or mining), to provide revenue for public schools.

The concept of a formal designation and conservation of public lands dates back to the first National Parks.

Theodore Roosevelt and his conservation group, Boone and Crockett Club created laws and regulations that protected public land.

Recreation opportunities depend on the managing agency, and run the gamut from the less restrictive, undeveloped wide open spaces of BLM lands to the highly developed and controlled national and state parks.

National forests generally have a mix of maintained trails and roads, wilderness and undeveloped portions, and developed picnic and camping areas.

This use became controversial in the late 20th century as it was examined by environmentalists and scientists concerned about the impact of these exotic animals on native plant populations and watersheds.

[5] Large tracts of public land in the United States are available for leasing for petroleum or mineral production.

Map of all federally owned land in the United States.
Most of the public land managed by the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management is in the Western states. Public lands account for 25 to 75 percent of the total land area in these states. [ 2 ]
The US Forest Service alone manages 193 million acres (780,000 km²) nationwide, or roughly 8% of the total land area in the United States. [ 3 ]