The rough beauty of the American West seems as far as you can get from the polished corridors of power in Washington DC. Until you look at the title to the land. The federal government owns large tracts of the western states: from a low of 29.9% in Montana, already more than the national average, up to a whopping 84.5% in Nevada.
This map, depicting the distribution and share of federal land per state, was first published on this blog way back in 2008. Nevertheless, it keeps accumulating comments and hits at a steady pace, and is still frequently shared around. Unlike hundreds of other random maps, this one has become a perennial. That raises an interesting question for map geeks like yours truly: Which nerve, exactly, does this map strike with the Great Online Public?
Read the complete article here:  http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/291-federal-lands-in-the-us
There is a movement afoot to return lands taken by the Federal Gov’t to the states.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/05/01/3653883/gop-action-group-seize-public-lands/
