How does the United States Government manage the land of the United States Government including both public and private lands?

Land ownership in United States has a long history.  European and other settlers measure that history from the time of Columbus.  But the United States was settled long before Columbus arrived.  Most Native American tribes, called Indians by the Europeans, did not think of the land as something that was owned.  Ownership of land was a foreign concept of them.  This was not the case for the Europeans.  This difference of opinion on whether or not someone can even own land would create many problems, but it is not the topic of today's blog.

The English, French, Mexican, and other governments all claimed part of the United States at various times.  The Europeans brought European diseases such as smallpox.  For example, the early explorer De Soto found the flatlands of what is now Arkansas cultivated with corn and said he was "never out of the site of a Native American village." It would be another 100 years before Europeans would return to Arkansas.  Those who returned found a vacant land with almost no one living here.  Smallpox had wiped out the Native American civilizations leaving the land opened the settlement by Europeans.

The Europeans saw this in the land as a gift from their god who they simply called "God" based on the assumption all other religions were false religions.  I would disagree with them.  I thank the gods had nothing to do with it.

Over time, the United States Government wanted to encourage settlement in the western United States.  Settlers loyal to the government meant ownership in the European sense of the word.  This entire idea can be summed up in two words: manifest destiny.  These European settlers believed that God had manifested his blessings to them and it was their destiny to replace the Native Americans with their on god-given culture.  My Native American ancestors would disagree with my European ancestors on this point.  But this leads up to today's topic.

As the role of manifest destiny spread across the country settlers selected the best lands on which to establish farms and raise their families.  By the late 1800s, the best parts of the country were settled in the country had the opportunity to make decisions on how to manage the remaining lands that nobody wanted.  Nobody, except that native Americans of course, that kept being chased to poorer and poorer lands to raise their families.  All this resulted in the land management patterns we have today with the best farmlands having been sold off in the 1800s to settlers in the remaining lands staying in government control.

Various land management agencies manage these government lands.  The three primary agencies are the United States Park Service, United States Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management.

There is a difference between national parks and national forests.

The national parks are managed by the Department of the Interior, United States Park Service, and were established for preservation and recreation.  Some parts are quite large but many are very tiny.  Often, extremely wonderful and beautiful areas were designated as national parks to prevent them from falling into private ownership with the idea that everyone would be able to enjoy them.  Today, some selfish people believe the national parts should be sold off to private industry and that the governments should not be managing such public lands.  I totally disagree with this view.  I think these wonderful areas should be available to everyone.  The parks vary in size but most are less than 100 miles (roughly 200 km) in diameter.

The United States national forest system is managed by the Department of Agriculture's United States Forest Service and was established for conservation of soil and water resources and to provide the nation with a supply of timber.  Like China in the 1990s, the United States was concerned in 1905 that our supply of timber would be exhausted.  Both countries have taken measures to ensure a continuous supply of timber. 

In the 1960s and 1970s this agency was cutting timber faster than the trees were growing back.  We ecologists call this an unsustainable management practice.  Had the United States continued cutting timber at that rate we would have no forests left today.  Today, the United States Forest Service attempts to manage Forest Service lands in a sustainable manner and manage the land for a multitude of uses.  "Multiple use" and the "sustainable use" had become slogans of the United States Forest Service.  The United States Forest Service manages extensive land areas especially in western states.  Despite the name, a slight majority of those lands are grasslands rather than forests.

The Bureau of Land Management, another agency of the Department of the Interior, manages grasslands in much the way the United States Forest Service manages lands.  The Bureau of Land Management also manages extensive areas of the western United States.  They also work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs which still retains the offensive term Indian in the name of their agency.  My ancestors did not come from India.  In fact, they would not even call themselves Americans, because in the year 1300 Amerigo Vespucci had not been born.  Each tribe had its own name for who they were and where they lived.

Enchanted Rock.

Sheila on Enchanted Rock.

Sedgehead keeps a rock from sliding off Enchanted Rock.