Why So Much Land In The West Is Owned By The Federal Government

As a multi generation westerner I’m glad there is so much land owned by the Feds. I can camp, hike , explore on these lands unhindered. My mountain county is 85% public land full of recreational activities, besides you could never grow a crop here with the short dry summers,long cold winters, high elevations and rocky sandy soils.

Being from one of these states, I was astonished when I worked out of state for a couple years, how impossible it was to go biking, hiking, shooting freely in the temp state I was in.....private land everywhere, you could not go anywhere freely, it was bizarre, was glad to return home.

The Homesteads offered in the West ranged from 160-640 acres, which would be a lot of potential in the Midwest and East, but would only run 10-15 cows in the arid west. So almost all homesteaders claimed plots with water. They eventually went broke and sold their homesteads to bigger landholders. The West is vastly different than the East and many in Government had never seen the West and considered their policies based on Eastern and Midwest's fertile lands and wet climates. Awesome Video!!

Would be interesting to redraw the Western state's boundaries minus the federal lands to truly represent their true shapes. For example, Nevada is actually one of the USA's smallest state's.

I can see why more people live on East Coast. I can see why the West has many different sceneries, such as grassland, forests, rivers, waterfalls, and deserts. I am from Arizona, we have everything except the ocean, but we are not far from it.

When you retire you'll see the value of public lands. Nevada is a campers paradise. Try pitching a Tent in Texas every inch of land is privately owned, except for the National Park's.

You're kinda forgetting something on Why So Much Land In The West Is Owned By The Federal Government. 🙁 The federal gov may have tried to give the land away for 100 years in desert areas and gave up about 84 years ago. The Fed gov, owning most of the land in the west, is because of Mineral Rights. Central and Eastern US, don't have full mineral rights protection laws with land they buy/own referred to as "locatable minerals." Example, you buy/own 100 acres and stumble on valuable minerals, the Gov takes control of your land until they have exhausted the minerals from your land. You may have title to the mineral rights on a property you own, or a previous owner may have sold or leased them, in which case, they may not be yours. In the West they do have full mineral rights protection laws with land they buy/own, The Gov REFUSES to sell land even back to the states, to be able to keep the mineral rights they do have. They even run off private landowners to get their mineral rights. Uranium is a huge one, 7 western desert area states have all the Uranium that is used as fuel for nuclear power plants and the nuclear reactors that run naval ships and submarines. The Gov is never going to give that up..😞 Oregon is the Only state that produces emery and a major producer of common clay, gemstones, and zeolites. Central Oregon is Not desert, It's perfectly clear they don't give a hoot about the forests, if they did, they would do their Job by LAW for the past 15 years with thinning/clearing and replanting the forest like they're supposed to, so there would be less forest fires. But they don't do their Job😠. You might ask why!😜 Most of the Land In The West Is Owned By The Federal Government because of mineral rights that the GOV don't have unless they keep the land....So the Gov trying to sell the land ended years ago once they realized what they were selling. And they will kill to get it all back from private owners...😢

I found you by accident and I so enjoy this channel, clear, direct, factual information and I love the maps. Thanks so much for your information, I really needed a refresher on locations. 🤗🤗🤗

They need to move many of these land Agencies to the West, so the people making the decisions for these lands actually live next to it and care about the land and the opinions of their neighbors who actually use the land.

I love how when i go to visit the southwest and vegas is all by itself because it’s surrounded by federal land. You have to go an hour towards zion to get back into another town.

Nevada is basically Federally owned, just make it the new Capital.

Very insightful, thank you )

It would have made more sense to explain to the people how lots of this federal governant land is being sold to China, and surrounding farmland also, why nobody is talking about this is so concerning, considering most of what they buy surrounds our military bases- what they hell is our country thinking?

There is also incredibly high land costs and home costs in the west 🤨 Maybe the government should F off and give us our land back

Even if your name is on the deed you don't own the land. You are just a caretaker that's all. How could you "own" something if you constantly have to pay for the land year after year? Property taxes is essentially paying rent to the government. The government owns the land. Period.

Fantastic production value and visuals, mate! Kept my attention throughout with useful info & interest maps & scenery. Just came across your channel and you got a new subscriber - excited to see more of what ya got!

Good video! It gave me the background, history, and facts on the ground to revise my opinion on the subject. Subscribed! 👏

Great graphics and information!

Hi Geoff, You are doing a great job in explaining very interesting but complex subjects. It would be even better to show data points in the graphs you are using to illustrate/reaffirm your words. For example, in the doughnut chart at min 4.25. Keep up the good work!

Great vid Geoff!