1995 National Oil and Gas Assessment and Onshore Federal Lands
Donald L. Gautier, Gordon L. Dolton and Emil D. Attanasi

U. S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 95-75-N
January 1998

DATA:

Data sources for assessment of onshore Federal Lands

Land ownership and mineral ownership maps, mostly produced by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), were used to determine the distribution of the Federal land and mineral ownership for plays in the large western public land states. These maps were generally at scales of 1:500,000 and 1:100,000. In a few instances, USGS 1:100,000 scale quadrangle base maps, and land status maps published by states and other sources were also accessed. Principal map sources are shown separately in the references.

In general, where mineral ownership maps were lacking, any lands owned by the Government were included in the assessment under the assumption that if the Government owned the land, it generally owned the mineral rights. Study of available land ownership and mineral ownership maps shows that for the majority of the lands owned by the Government, the Government also holds the mineral rights. In some areas the Government owns mineral rights where it does not own surface rights to the land. In these instances, the Government often holds rights to specific minerals (e.g. the large coal mineral rights held by the Government in the Powder River and Williston basins of the Rocky Mountains). Areas including Federal oil and gas mineral rights were included in the assessment. Areas where the Government has mineral ownership other than oil and gas were excluded from the assessment under the assumption that the Government is not a participant in oil and gas development.

In some regions, maps of Federal land and mineral ownership are either incomplete or nonexistent, particularly outside of the western states. This is especially true for mineral ownership. Though Federal land and mineral rights data are incomplete, available data were judged adequate for the purpose of allocating play resources to such lands. Whereas it would be desirable to have better data concerning these lands, it is unlikely that such data would significantly alter the overall results. Much of the missing data are probably for small tracts and, in comparison to the known Federal land and mineral ownership, is probably only a small part of the total. Another feature of Federal land maps is that many maps show proclamation boundaries. This is the case for many National Forests, particularly those in the Midwest and eastern U.S. Often, the Government owns only a fraction of the lands and minerals inside these boundaries. Generally, intermediate-scale land maps (e.g. 1:100,000 land status maps) are available for these areas which show the amount of Government ownership. Where available, these intermediate-scale maps were used to estimate Government ownership in the assessment process. Land and minerals inside of the proclamation boundaries may be acquired or transferred to private ownership by the Federal Government on a continuing basis, so that land maps for these areas can become out of date. Maps used in the assessment are of recent vintage, and such minor changes should not significantly affect overall results.

Distribution of Federal Lands

The total area of the 50 States of the United States is 2.3 billion acres. At the time of the assessment, Federal civil and defense agencies administered over 657 million acres or 29 percent of the total land area of the United States (BLM, 1996), as is shown in Table 2. Indian and Native lands, even where administered in trust by the United States, are not Federal lands and are not treated in this report. Detailed maps of Federal surface and mineral ownership are available from State offices of the Bureau of Land Management, generally at scales of 1:500,000 or 1:100,000, and were the primary source of land data used in the assessment.

As of fiscal year 1994, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency of the Department of Interior, had responsibility for 267 million acres, or 40 percent of the Federally owned lands, about one third of which is in Alaska. Most of the remainder is in the 11 westernmost conterminous States. These BLM lands are primarily public domain lands which have never left Federal ownership. Additional landholding agencies of the Department of the Interior include the Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and Bureau of Reclamation. Two other large landholding agencies of the Federal Government are the Department of Agriculture, with over 190 million acres in the National Forest system, and the Department of Defense, with approximately 30 million acres.

Geographic distribution of Federal lands is very uneven, as is readily shown on the by Table 2. Federal ownership in Nevada is approximately 83 percent of the land area of the state, followed more distantly by Alaska, with about 66 percent, and by Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Wyoming.

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