Figure 2.2 



Forest Land as a Percentage of Total Land Area 



discussion on mining later in this chapter, increased 

 reclamation of mined lands in the future will limit the 

 longrun impacts of surface mining on the total area of 

 forest land. 



The loss of 56 million acres of rangeland will occur 

 largely on private lands, due to changes to cropland 

 and developed uses such as residential sites, high- 

 ways, airports, and mines. Some rangeland areas will 

 be converted to improved pasture, which is an intensi- 

 fication, rather than a change, in land use. As with 

 forests, required reclamation of mined lands will limit 

 the longrun effects of surface mining on the total area 

 of rangelands. 



Ownership 



About 54 percent of the Nation's present area of 

 forest and range land is non-Federal ownership, 

 which is mainly private, but also includes State and 

 municipal lands (table 2.3). This proportion is chang- 

 ing due to State and Native selections of Federal 

 lands in Alaska. After these selections of well over 

 100 million acres have been completed, the propor- 



tion of forest and range lands in non-Federal owner- 

 ship will increase several percent. 



Forest and range lands under Federal jurisdiction 

 in the contiguous States include 174 million acres 

 administered by the Bureau of Land Management 

 and 167 million acres of National Forest System 

 lands. Other Federal forest and range lands, totaling 

 only 45 million acres, are administered by various 

 agencies in the Department of the Interior and the 

 Department of Defense. 



Of the 35 1 million acres of forest and range land in 

 Alaska, 6 percent are National Forests, 81 percent are 

 administered by the Bureau of Land Management, 

 9 percent are other Federal lands, and only 4 percent 

 are non-Federal lands. The bulk of the State and 

 Native selections of Federal lands in Alaska will come 

 from lands administered by the Bureau of Land 

 Management; however, most of the highly productive 

 forest lands selected will come from National Forests. 



Most of the eastern forest lands are State and pri- 

 vately owned. Federal ownership is heavily concen- 

 trated in the western forest and range land. Only 9 

 percent of the eastern forest lands are Federal, but 72 



15 



