Deborah Moeller

Privatize the Public Lands

Deborah Moeller

The federal government has owned and managed land in the United States almost since its inception. The Louisiana Purchase and the conquest of the West put huge tracts of land in its hands. Most of those lands have been sold or granted to states and to individuals, but many lands—one-third of the land area of the United States—still belong to the federal government. Those lands include natural wonders as well as vast, desolate, nearly valueless regions.