WASHINGTON DC (11/12/2026) – Yesterday, the Department of the Interior released its four-year strategic plan, including an initiative to reduce the size of the federal estate, which currently encompasses about 640 million acres nationwide, or 28% of all American land, with roughly 480 million acres managed by the Interior Department.
Federal land ownership is heavily concentrated in the West, ranging from roughly 46% in California and 53% in Oregon to over 80% in Nevada. In these Western communities, municipalities are often landlocked by surrounding federal lands. This limits their ability to expand outward to build homes, support infrastructure, and realize economic opportunity.
Tom Pyle, President of the Institute for Energy Research, issued the following statement:
“America’s iconic National Parks, wildlife habitats, and historic preservation sites are national treasures that must always remain protected and off-limits. However, across the West, the federal government holds many scattered, non-core parcels that surround growing communities. Washington is simply overextended trying to manage 640 million acres, often to the detriment of both maintenance backlogs and local economies. Keeping these lands under federal control deprives growing communities of the possibility to pursue economic opportunity and meet the demand for affordable housing.
“I applaud the administration for opening up this discussion. The reflexive opposition to any efforts to reconsider federal land ownership patterns by groups on the left and the right is neither constructive nor rational. Transferring select, non-essential tracts near growing communities to state, local, and private hands could ease severe housing shortages, unlock responsible energy development, generate revenue for the Treasury, and allow federal agencies to focus their resources on stewarding our truly irreplaceable public lands.”
IER Experts Available For Interview On This Topic:
- Tom J. Pyle, President
- Kenny Stein, Vice President of Policy
- Alex Stevens, Manager of Policy and Communications
Additional Background Resources:
For media inquiries, please contact THOMAS.PYLE@IERDC.ORG
