Why The VAST MAJORITY Of Nevada Is Owned By The Federal Government

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As someone who was born and raised in Nevada, this video was both informational and inciteful. So much of my youth was spent wandering the deserts, not knowing the cultural or geopolitical aspects. It is truly a state where you lose yourself to find yourself

When Nevada became a State, the New State was given 1/18th of the land. Roughly 6% of the land. Most of Nevada is dry and desolate. You must realize that Nevada was the last State in the lower 48, where you could homestead. No one was willing to homestead it, even when the requirements were loosened to eliminate growing crops, or even fencing. All you had to do was build a residence, and live on the property for five years. There were Damned few takers.

I'm surprised you didn't mention the reason Nevada is so dry, the rain shadow from the Sierra Nevada.

Paiute has a silent "e" at the end. Lake Mead is ALSO managed by the National Park Service. It is our nation's 1st National Recreation Area

I used to live in Nevada and yeah the Bureau of Land Management is like a second state government there…

Nevada is the most mountainous state in the lower US. Nevasa is a truly amazing place. It produces more gold than all but 4 or 5 countries in the world. It also has large copper and silver mines. Lithum is another that is in Nevada due to a vast majority of the State having once been covered by a huge fresh water lake. Pyramid Lake contains a fish species that are found in only one other place on the planet. They also take 20+ pound cutthroat trout out of that lake. Tahoe is in Nevada and California and is the 6th largest natural lake in the country behind the great lakes. Tahoe is also very deep at over 1600 feet in places. The Truckee river is one of the few rivers that never makes it to the ocean. It flows out of Tahoe and into Pyramid. Pyramid lake has no outlet so it is an alkaline lake it's considered fresh water but it tastes bad. With all the mining in Nevada there are more man made moutains in Nevada than anywhere else also. They mine an area and when they have sifted all the value out of the soil they build a new mountain out of it. There are small towns in Nevada that have never been connected to the power grid so the only electricity available is produced by the residents themselves. They have old style windmills that pumo water to towers that provide water to a group of homes or a ranch. Nevada is a very interesting place my family has lived in the state for more than 5 generations, so they were here before it was a state. We have been in the Truckee Meadows for 3 generations now. Most of the family has no intention of going anywhere any time soon. There are many more wonders in Nevada. Rhe difference between Nevada and most other places is you need to look a bit harder to see past the desert. Also be sure to bring along more than just a little water.😆😅🤣

Thank you for saying NEVADA the correct way!! We appreciate it!

9:39 The Forest Service is actually part of the US Department of Agriculture or USDA. Apparently the DOI used to be quite corrupt, so Theodore Roosevelt moved them to USDA. There have been many pushes to include the Forest Service in the DOI, since it follows a similar role with other agencies

Pretty good video. I grew up in a tiny town named Hawthorne, Nevada. We have a military depot there. Miles and miles of bunkers storing military ammunition. Also, a very big yet shrinking Walker Lake. Growing up in the Great Basin Desert is a unique experience. Fun fact: Most of Boundary Peak is in California only the summit is in Nevada, Wheeler Peak is the tallest mountain that's completely in Nevada.

Here in Vegas we always joke that the state tree is those orange road cones lol. We all go out and party on the dry lake beds, federal land is so awesome because you can just do what you want bc no one owns it.! 🥳 Thx for such an insightful & concise summary, much appreciated+

Over the years I've driven almost every major highway that crosses Nevada. As such, I instantly knew why the land is owned by the federal government. There just isn't much out there, which is precisely the beauty of it. I will also say for anyone who wants to explore the non-Reno/Vegas parts of the state, fill your gas tank whenever you have a chance and if you're vegan, you're going to miss out on some great steak and rib places. You can also stay at the Clown Motel in Tonopah.

Nevada has no State Income Tax!!

Arizona is not too far behind with about 85% of the state owned by federal and state along with native american reservations.

Great Video Geoff, one correction - The Nevada test site is controlled by the Department of Energy rather than Defense. Some DOD work is done there but it is mostly associated with nuclear stuff.

Nevada was one of the last states I had left to explore after traveling around the country for the past 20 years. It didn’t take long for me to realize that it’s one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

There were definitely people in Nevada earlier than 12k years ago. Not far across the border, in Oregon, there's a site called Rimrock Draw with human activity that has an uncontroversial date of a bit over 18,000 years.

Geoff, a correction: the US Forest Service is NOT in the Department of Interior. It is in the Department of Agriculture. There's another important fact you never explained. The federal government wanted people to come settle Nevada, so they offered to give nearly all of the land in the state to anybody who came to live on it. Like the rest of the west, they used the Homestead Act to try and give the land away. The feds still own so much of the land simply because nobody would come and take it: it's just not land that can grow enough food to feed settlers, so the settlers never came, even when they could get the land for free. What we now call "BLM land" basically consists of the rest of the land in the arid west that settlers wouldn't take when the government offered to give it to them.

As a proud Nevadan, I am glad that much of our land is owned by the BLM. Most of these lands are accessible to the public for free camping, hiking and use of off-road vehicles. I recently went on a trip from western Nevada to Wisconsin and back covering 14 states. When I came back home, I was speaking to a friend who lives in California, and he asked which state was my favorite. Without hesitation I named my home state of Nevada. In northern Nevada we have 4 seasons with some snow in the winter and a few hot days during the summer, but most days are sunny and moderate. Our main problem in the state is an infestation of Californians migrating here and bringing their California ways with them. If you want things done like they were done in California, then move back or stay there in the first place. If you want to assimilate, welcome to Nevada.

Fun fact: The only reason that the Federal Government doesn't have control over more of Alaska is that the agreement was made that the nascent State government could pick sufficient land area to place under control for supporting the state's economy. A number of acres was picked by the State's representatives. However, there was no firm information was available as to the number of acres in the defined state boundaries. So, it turned out that when picking a number, they hoped that the requested area for state control wasn't greater than the actual number of acres. Turns out, there was WAY more land area in the state than was requested.