# Any land not owned by anyone?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-land-not-owned-by-anyone/254376>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 9, 2004, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-land-not-owned-by-anyone/254376 "2004-07-09T23:06:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_DePigg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/97f17d/32.png) [@Arnold\_DePigg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_DePigg)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-land-not-owned-by-anyone/254376/1 "2004-07-09T23:06:47Z")

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In the United States, is there any land anywhere that isn’t owned by anyone? Does the local or federal government automatically own any land that isn’t privately owned?

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**Author:** ![WindyCityDenizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dec6dc/32.png) [@WindyCityDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WindyCityDenizen)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-land-not-owned-by-anyone/254376/2 "2004-07-09T23:35:14Z")

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The government owns all lands not in private hands by default. They used to sell or give some of this land to people (for example: the Homestead Act), but apparently no more. See the history of the BLM here:

[http://www.blm.gov/nhp/facts/index.htm#history](http://www.blm.gov/nhp/facts/index.htm#history)

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**Author:** ![WindyCityDenizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dec6dc/32.png) [@WindyCityDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WindyCityDenizen)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-land-not-owned-by-anyone/254376/3 "2004-07-09T23:37:27Z")

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I forgot to say, the among other duties, the Bureau of Land Management administers government land that hasn’t been designated for other uses.

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**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-land-not-owned-by-anyone/254376/4 "2004-07-10T04:28:49Z")

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There are thousands of acres, in fact thousands of square miles, of land that is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (Department of the Interior) and the US Forest Service (Department of Agriculture) in the Sierra Nevada range and on the desert in California where I live. And that doesn’t include places like Yesemite, Sequoia, Death Valley National Parks.

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**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-land-not-owned-by-anyone/254376/5 "2004-07-10T05:14:39Z")

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Canada also has land available. In some cases it will help if you are a Native American. Also I doubt if all of Siberia has been spoken for.

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**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-land-not-owned-by-anyone/254376/6 "2004-07-10T06:39:35Z")

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> [@David Simmons](#):
>
> There are thousands of acres, in fact thousands of square miles, of land that is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (Department of the Interior) and the US Forest Service (Department of Agriculture) in the Sierra Nevada range and on the desert in California where I live. And that doesn’t include places like Yesemite, Sequoia, Death Valley National Parks.

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) - 261 million acres

USDA Forest Service - 192 million acres

DOI National Park Service - 79 million acres