but few know just how vast the holdings really are. The map above is courtesy of Investor's Business Daily. It indicates the vast amounts of land, particularly in the natural resources rich western states, held by the federal government.
According to the USDA, Economic Research Service, of the 2,264,000,000 acres that comprise the United States of America, the federal government owns 635,000,000 of them, or more than 28%. In addition, state and
local governments own 195,000,000 acres and another 56,000,000 acres is the sovereign territory of the various Indian Tribes.
Thus, nearly 4 of every 10 acres of land in the U.S. – 39.13% - is owned by a government entity rather than private citizens; easily the largest asset controlled by the collectivist state. And, even the land that is privately held has volumes of regulations controlling what citizens can do on and with it
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/bobbeauprez/2012/04/03/this_land_is_the_governments