Federal Lands:

Information on Land Owned and on Acreage with Conservation Restrictions

T-RCED-95-117: Published: Mar 2, 1995. Publicly Released: Mar 2, 1995.

Additional Materials:

Contact:

Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
youngc1@gao.gov

GAO discussed the amount of federally owned land and federal acreage set aside for conservation purposes. GAO noted that: (1) from fiscal year (FY) 1964 through FY 1993, the overall amount of federal land decreased from about 700.5 million acres to 623.1 million acres; (2) most of the decrease was due to two large transfers of land to Alaska upon statehood and to Native Alaskans to settle their land claims; (3) federal acreage set aside for conservation purposes increased from 51.3 million acres to 271.1 million acres during the period; (4) three agencies received land to create new or expand existing national forests, wildlife refuges, and parks; (5) the amount of federally managed land has continued to increase since FY 1993; (6) four agencies manage more than 25 percent of 12 western states' total land and over 50 percent of 5 of those states' land; and (7) all of the land managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service is considered restricted for conservation purposes, while the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management manage their lands for multiple purposes, although some of their acreage is also restricted.

Jan 15, 2021

Jan 13, 2021

Jan 7, 2021

Dec 18, 2020

Dec 9, 2020

Dec 7, 2020

Nov 20, 2020

Nov 19, 2020

Looking for more? Browse all our products here