In all modern states A sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. While in abstract terms a sovereign state can exist without being recognised by other sovereign states, unrecognised states will often find it hard to, some land is held by central or local governments A government is the organization, or agency through which a political unit exercises its authority, controls and administers public policy, and directs and controls the actions of its members or subjects. This is called public land. The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countries. The following examples illustrate some of the range.
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Commonwealth countries
In several Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states. All but two of these countries were formerly part of the British Empire countries such as Australia For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of the roughly 250 language groups. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the immediate north and discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by the British, New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori language name for New Zealand is Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud. The Realm of New Zealand also and Canada The land occupied by Canada was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three, public lands are referred to as Crown lands Crown land is a designated area belonging to the Crown, the equivalent of an entailed estate that passed with the monarchy and could not be alienated from it. Recent proposals to sell Crown lands have been highly controversial.
France
In France France (pronounced /ˈfrænts/ frantss or /ˈfrɑːnts/ frahnts; French pronunciation (help·info): [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, pronounced: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a state in Western Europe with several of its overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian,, public land (French French is a Romance language spoken as a first language by about 136 million people worldwide. Around 190 million people speak French as a second language, and an additional 200 million speak it as an acquired foreign language. French speaking communities are present in 57 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in: domaine public) may he held by communes The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or cities in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany. French communes have no exact equivalent in the United Kingdom, having a status somewhere in between that of English districts and civil, départements In the terminology of political geography and historiography a national department is an administrative political subdivision of a country established by the cognizant (usually legislative) government authority holding sovereign power for the territory, or the central State A sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. While in abstract terms a sovereign state can exist without being recognised by other sovereign states, unrecognised states will often find it hard to.
United States
Most of the public land held by the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management is in the Western states. Public lands account for 25 to 75 percent of the total land area in these states.[1] The US Forest Service alone holds 193 million acres (780,000 km²) nationwide, or roughly 8% of the total land area in the United States.[2]In the United States governmental entities including cities, counties, states, and the federal government all manage land which are referred to as either public lands or the public domain Public domain is a term used to describe lands that were not under private or state ownership during the 18th and 19th centuries in the United States, as the country was expanding. These lands were obtained from the 13 original colonies, from Native American tribes, or from purchase from other countries. The domain was controlled by the federal.
The majority of public lands in the United States are held in trust for the American people by the federal government and managed by the Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately 253 million acres (1,023,855 km2) or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. BLM also manages 700 million acres (2,832,800 km2) of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and (BLM), the United States National Park Service, Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation is an agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior and oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and/or operation of numerous water diversion, delivery, and storage and hydroelectric power generation projects it built throughout the western United States, or the Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and habitats. The mission of the agency reads as "working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the under the Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, and to insular areas of the United States, or the United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass 193 million acres. Major divisions of the agency include the National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, and the Research and Development branch under the Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food. It aims to meet the needs of farmers and ranchers, promote agricultural trade and production, work to assure food safety, protect natural resources,. Other federal agencies that manage public lands include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, pronounced /ˈno.ə/, like "noah") is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere. NOAA warns of dangerous weather, charts seas and skies, guides the use and protection of ocean and coastal and the United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense is the U.S. federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the United States armed forces. The organization and functions of the DOD are set forth in Title 10 of the United States Code, which includes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 34,600 civilian and 650 military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency. Although generally associated with dams, canals and flood protection in the United States, USACE is involved.
In general, Congress The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C must legislate the creation of new public lands, such as national parks; however, under the 1906 Antiquities Act The Antiquities Act of 1906, officially An Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities , is an act passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906 giving the President of the United States authority to restrict the use of particular public land owned by the federal government by executive order,, the President The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is one of only two nationally elected federal officers, the other being the Vice President of the United States may designate new national monuments A National Monument in the United States is a protected area that is similar to a National Park except that the President of the United States can quickly declare an area of the United States to be a National Monument without the approval of Congress. National monuments receive less funding and afford fewer protections to wildlife than national without congressional authorization.
Each western state also received federal "public land" as trust lands designated for specific beneficiaries, which the States are to manage as a condition to acceptance into the union. Those trust lands cannot any longer be considered public lands as allowing any benefits to the "public" would be in breach of loyalty to the specific beneficiaries. The trust lands (two sections, or about 1,280 acres (5.2 km2) per township A township in the United States is a small geographic area. Townships range in size from 6 to 54 square miles , with 36 square miles (93 km²) being the norm.[citation needed]) are usually managed extractively (grazing or mining), to provide revenue for public schools. All states have some lands under state management, such as state parks State parks are parks or other protected areas of the United States and in Mexico for an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreation, or other reason, and under the administration of the government of a U.S. state or one of the states of Mexico. State parks are protected area of IUCN category II. The term, state wildlife management areas, and state forests.
Wilderness Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with roads, pipelines or other industrial is a special designation for public lands which have been completely undeveloped. The concept of wilderness areas was legislatively defined by the 1964 Wilderness Act. Wilderness areas can be managed by any of the above Federal agencies, and some parks and refuges are almost entirely designated wilderness. A wilderness study area is a tract of land that has wilderness characteristics, and is managed as wilderness, but has not received a wilderness designation from Congress.
Typically each parcel is governed by its own set of laws and rules that explain the purpose for which the land was acquired, and how the land may be used.
The private uses of public lands continues to be a challenging issue in the United States. Environmental groups have used the Public Trust Doctrine to re-establish rights to common resources such as water in the arid west and in Hawaii. An expanded vision of the Public Trust doctrine that includes soils, air and other species has been argued. [1] Recently there have also been increasing efforts to privatize many public lands through land trades and other privatization schemes. [2]
Recreation on U.S. public lands
Most state- and federally managed public lands are open for recreational use. Recreation opportunities depend on the managing agency, and run the gamut from the free-for-all, undeveloped wide open spaces of BLM lands to the highly developed and controlled national and state parks. Wildlife refuges and state wildlife management areas, managed primarily to improve habitat A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds (influences and is utilized by) a species population.[citation needed], are generally open to wildlife watching, hiking, and hunting, except for closures to protect mating and nesting, or to reduce stress on wintering animals. National forests generally have a mix of maintained trails and roads, wilderness and undeveloped portions, and developed picnic and camping areas.
Grazing on U.S. public lands
Historically in the western United States, most public land is leased for grazing by cattle or sheep. This includes vast tracts of National Forest and BLM land, as well as land on Wildlife Refuges. National Parks are the exception. This use became controversial in the late 20th century as it was examined by environmentalists. [3]
See also
- Federal enclave
- National Public Lands Day (in the US)
External links for U.S. public lands
- Public Lands Information Center: state and federal lands in the Western U.S.
- Recreation on Federal Lands: United States/ nationwide
- Public Land / Water Access Assoc.: Montana/ United States
Further reading
- Nancy Ferguson, Sacred Cows at the Public Trough, Maverick Publications (December, 1983), trade paperback, ISBN 0-89288-091-0
Footnotes
- ^ Western States Data Public Land Acreage
- ^ http://www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/lar/2007/TABLE_4.htm
- ^ Pages 14-73, "The Public Lands Debate", Sharman Apt Russell, Kill the Cowboy: A Battle of Mythology in the New West, Addison-Wesley (May, 1993), hardcover, 218 pages, ISBN 0-201-58123-X
Categories: Real property law | United States public land law
Reno Gazette Journal
Residents of the Smith Valley area need to at least be aware of a new public lands proposal hailing from Douglas County that could impact lands near private ...
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Friday September 25 2009 by Julie Urlaub Tomorrow Sept 26th is National Public Lands Day National Public Lands Day is the nation s largest hands on volunteer effort to improve and enhance the public lands Americans enjoy In
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Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:27:57 GM
We are not inhumane and feel very passionate about our responsibilities to the . public lands. and its resources. We are following the laws established by Congress. If you do not agree with the laws, we would recommend you contact your ...
Q. wolves are really awesome... and some people like them... they will help with the rodent problems... we need the wolves. we took their land and killed them off now we need to bring them back
Asked by Lahondas one and only true LOVE - Thu Sep 24 14:45:56 2009 - - 4 Answers - 0 Comments
A. This is one of the most fractious questions in Environmental Policy. Many people believe that wolves should be reintroduced to their entire historic range, while others were happy to see the wolves disappear and want them to stay gone. Now, like it or not, the demographics on public opinion polls are very clear. Most people who support wolf reintroduction live in urban areas and only use public lands for recreation, while the vast majority of wolf opponents depend on the land for their livelihood, and wolves truly would damage their business. Another major group of wolf opponents are deer hunters. A lot of people who don't support hunting feel that we don't need to listen to these people, but the fact is that almost all of the funding that… [cont.]
Answered by Pat T - Thu Sep 24 16:34:50 2009
