The United States Supreme Court has upheld the broad powers of the federal government to deal with federal lands, for example having unanimously held in Kleppe v. New Mexico that "the complete power that Congress has over federal lands under this clause necessarily includes the power to regulate and protect wildlife living there, state law notwithstanding." Lands held by the United States in trust for Native American tribes are generally not considered public lands. There are some 55 million acres of land held in trust by the federal government for Indian tribes and almost 11 million acres of land held in trust by the federal government for individual Natives. Although the United States holds legal title to these lands, the tribe or individual holds beneficial title. As a result, Indian Country is "quasi-private, not public, land." Nevertheless, "because the United States is a legal title holder, the federal government is a necessary part in all leases and dispositions of resources including trust land. For example, the secretary of the interior must approve any contract for payment or grant by an Indian tribe for services for the tribe 'relative to their lands'."
Primary federal land holders
The four primary federal land holders are:
Department of the Interior
*Bureau of Land Management - Manages about 248.3 million acres of federal lands as of 2017, more than any other agency. Of these, 99.4% are in the 11 Western states or Alaska. BLM primarily emphasizes rangeland, but also administers lands for purposes other than grazing, including "recreation,... timber, watershed, wildlife and fish habitat, and conservation."
*United States Fish and Wildlife Service - Manages about 89.1 million acres of federal land, of which 86% are in Alaska. FWS-administered land is primarily for conservation and promotion of wildlife; however, some other uses are permitted under certain conditions and in certain areas.
*United States Forest Service - Manages about 192.9 million acres of national forests. Although Forest Service holdings are mostly in the West, FS also manages about 60% of all federal lands in the Eastern United States.
Federal land is concentrated in the Western United States. Nationwide, the federal government owns 27.4% of all land area. There are significant variations regionally; the federal government owns 61.3% of the land area in Alaska, 46.4% of the land area in the 11 contiguous Western states; and 4.2% of the land area of other states. The state with the highest percentage of land held by the federal government is Nevada ; the states with the lowest percentage of land held by the federal government are Connecticut and Iowa. From 1990 to 2015, federal acreage declined by about 3.9% due to a decline in land held by DOD and BLM.
