Federal lands

In the United States, federal lands are lands owned and managed by the United States federal government. Pursuant to the Property Clause of the United States Constitution (Article 4, section 3, clause 2), Congress has the power to retain, buy, sell, and regulate federal lands. These powers have been recognized in a long series of United States Supreme Court decisions.

In Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 the United States Constitution empowers Congress with exclusive legislative authority like that exercised for Washington, D.C., over "Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, Dock-yards, and other needful Buildings." However, as long as state law does "not impair the federal governments effective use of the land", states still have jurisdiction over federal lands acquired without the consent of a state legislature as the Property Clause (Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2) of the Constitution does not require the consent of a state legislature for the federal government to posses lands within the state in question.

The federal government manages about 640 million acres (2.6 million km) of land in the United States, which is about 28% of the total land area of 2.27 billion acres (9.2 million km). The majority of federal lands (610.1 million acres (2.469 million km) or 95 percent area in 2015) are administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Park Service (NPS), or United States Forest Service (USFS). BLM, FWS, and NPS are part of the United States Department of the Interior, while the Forest Service is part of the United States Department of Agriculture. An additional 11.4 million acres (46 thousand km) of land (about 2% of all federal land) is managed by the United States Department of Defense (DOD). The majority of federal lands are located in Alaska and the Western states.