Visualizing Environmental Science

Land Use in the United States 323

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botanists, ecologists, and soil scientists are some of the

scientists who use government-owned lands for scientific

inquiry. These areas provide perfect settings for educa-

tional experiences not only in science but also in history,

because they can be used to demonstrate the condition of

the land when humans originally settled it (Figure 13.2).

Public lands are important for their recreational

value, providing places for hiking, swimming, boating,

rafting, sport hunting, and fishing. Wild areas are impor-

tant to the human spirit. Forest-covered mountains, roll-

ing prairies, barren deserts, and other undeveloped areas

are aesthetically pleasing and also help us recover from

the stresses of urban and suburban living. We can escape

the tensions of the civilized world by retreating, even

temporarily, to the solitude of natural areas.

Not all public lands remain undeveloped. As you will

see throughout this chapter, many public lands are devel-

oped for uses ranging from logging to cattle grazing to

mineral extraction.

1. What percentage of land in the United States
   is privately owned? What percentage is owned
   by the federal government?

control, and groundwater recharge. Undisturbed land
breaks down pollutants and recycles wastes. Natural envi-
ronments provide homes for organisms. One of the best
ways to maintain biological diversity and to protect endan-
gered and threatened species is by preserving or restoring
the natural areas to which these organisms are adapted.
Undisturbed public lands are ecosystems that scien-
tists use as a benchmark, or point of reference, to deter-
mine the impact of human activity. Geologists, zoologists,

!DMINISTRATIONOFFEDERALLANDS sTable 13.1

Agency Land held Primary uses

Area in millions of

hectares (acres)

Bureau of Land Management

(Dept. of the Interior)

National resource lands Mining, livestock grazing, oil and

natural gas extraction

102 (253)

U.S. Forest Service

(Dept. of Agriculture)

National forests Logging, recreation, conservation of

watersheds, wildlife habitat, mining,

livestock grazing, oil and natural gas

extraction

78 (193)

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

(Dept. of the Interior)

National wildlife refuges Wildlife habitat; also logging, hunting,

fishing, mining, livestock grazing, oil

and natural gas extraction

38 (93)

National Park Service

(Dept. of the Interior)

National Park Service Recreation, wildlife habitat 34 (84)

Other—includes Department

of Defense, Corps of Engineers

(Dept. of the Army), and

Bureau of Reclamation

(Dept. of the Interior)

Remaining federal lands Military uses, wildlife habitat 23 (57)

El Capitan and Bridalveil Fall in Yosemite

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Yosemite National Park, 1 of 58 national parks and nearly 400
total sites in the National Park Service system, includes rugged
granite peaks and waterfalls, as well as valleys, meadows, and
wilderness areas.

Source: U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Department of Defense.