Federal Lands

During fiscal years 1964-93, the amount of federal land managed by the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service decreased by 77 million acres, from about 700 million acres to about 623 million acres. However, the decrease is skewed because of two unique land transfers in Alaska--the transfer of about 76 million acres of federal land to the state of Alaska in accordance with the Alaska Statehood Act of 1958 and the transfer of about 36 million acres to native Alaskans in accordance with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. Excluding these two large land transfers, the amount of land managed by the four agencies actually increased by 34 million acres. During the same 29-year period, the number of acres managed by the four agencies that were set aside for conservation purposes increased from about 51 million acres at the end of fiscal year 1964 to about 271 million acres at the end of fiscal year 1993.