U.S. Land Statistics and Environmental Progress

The House Resources Committee has compiled these statistics regarding the state of federal lands and environmental progress. The info provides a brief synopsis of little known facts about the federal estate and U.S. progress toward a cleaner, healthier environment.

U.S. Forests:

Approximately 5% of 2.3 billion acres in the United States is developed. Overall, our forests, and open and wild spaces are healthy and teaming with wildlife. (Natural Resources Inventory: Land Use)

America has 749 million acres of forestland, 14 million acres more than in 1920. (U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Logging and timber harvests are at an all time low, down from 11 billion board feet on national forests in 1980's to less than 2 billion board feet today.

Wild Places:

Over 663 wilderness areas exist in the United States covering almost 106 million acres. (Department of the Interior)

Roughly 5% of America’s 2.3 Billion acres are “developed” (i.e. roads, suburban sprawl, airports, etc.), according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Statistics (2004 report).

The National Park System encompasses 83.6 million acres in the United States, of which, approximately 34 percent is wilderness. (National Park Service)

There are about 60 million acres of National Forest roadless lands in the United States, not including acreage designated as Wilderness area. (U.S. Forest Service)

The National Wildlife Refuge System, which is visited by 40 million people a year, is comprised of 545 national wildlife refuges which contain nearly 95 million acres of federal lands dedicated to the conservation of fish, wildlife and their habitats.

Alaska has 60 million acres of wilderness, 52 million acres of National Parks, and 23 million acres of forest. In short, Alaska has more acres of protected federal land than the State of Texas has in total land.

The four federal land management agencies oversee an estate of 614 million acres, an area more than six times the size of California.

Wetlands:

Rates of annual wetland losses have decreased from almost 500,000 acres a year three decades ago to a loss of less than 100,000 acres averaged annually since 1986. We are making great progress. (Earthday.gov)

Since the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program began in 1990, a total of 167,000 acres have been restored or protected. (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)

In 2002, the President signed legislation reauthorizing the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, which will help keep our water clean and help provide habitat for hundreds of species of wildlife. The bill will save and improve millions of acres of wetlands.

To date, more than $139 million in grants have been awarded to 25 states and one U.S. territory for wetlands restoration and conservation. (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)

Roadless:

There are about 60 million acres of National Forest roadless lands in the United States, not including acreage designated as Wilderness area. (U.S. Forest Service)

These roadless areas contain approximately 465,000 acres of State and private lands. And approximately 2.8 million acres actually contain ROADS. (US Forest Service)

Water:

Our rivers, lakes, and streams are 55% cleaner – across the board – than they were in 1972. That figure is continuously improving. (Annual Report, U.S. Council on Environmental Quality)

In 1961, 30% of water sources were judged to be poor or severely polluted – today less than 5% fall under that category. (Annual Report, Council on Environmental Quality)

Industrial water pollution has been plunging since 1980 – with toxic organics and metals falling nearly 100%. (Index of Environmental Indicators, Pacific Research Center)

In 2002, states reported that 94 percent of the population served by community water systems were served by systems that met all health-based standards, up from 79 percent in 1993.

Air Quality:

Over the last 30 years, emissions of the six priority pollutants in the U.S. have been slashed by more than 25%.

Smog in major U.S. cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C., has declined steadily since the 1960s; falling more than 50% between 1972 and 1996. (Index of Environmental Indicators, Pacific Research Center)

The nation's air is much cleaner today than it was 30 years ago. Remarkably, this progress has occurred even while, during the same 30 year period, the U.S. Gross Domestic Product increased 161 percent, energy consumption increased 42 percent, and vehicle miles traveled increased 149 percent.

General Facts**:

• Over the last four decades, federal land holding increased six percent.
  
• 29.6% of all land in America is owned by the federal government.
  
• 671,759,297.7 total acres in the US owned by the federal government.
  
• States with the largest percentage of federal land ownership:
  
  • Nevada: 91.9%
  • Alaska: 66.7%
  • Utah: 66.5%
  • Idaho: 66.4%
  • Wyoming: 50.6%
  • Arizona: 50.2%
  • Colorado: 34.9%
  • Oregon: 49.7%
  • California: 46.9%
  • New Mexico: 34.1%
  • Montana: 31.3%
  • Washington: 31.0%
• Only 2.4% of federal land in the U.S. is used for military purposes, and more than 5.1 million acres of federal land are classified as “vacant” with no definable purpose.

**(Following info from the Republican Study Committee April 27, 2004 “Overview of the United States Government’s Owned and Leased Real Property: Federal Real Property Profile as of September 30, 2003,” published by the General Services Administration.) Link