Making America's Public Lands: The Contested History of Conservation on Federal Lands

In the United States, the federal government owns more than a quarter of the nation’s landscape—nearly 640 million acres; or more than a million square miles, which, if consolidated, would make it the tenth largest nation on earth. Primarily managed by four federal agencies—the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service--American public lands have been central to developing the American economy, state, and identity. ...