- The Kem C. Gardner Institute issued a new report about land ownership in Utah.
- Utah has the second highest percentage of federally owned land in the country.
- Government land ownership varies widely in Utah's 29 counties.
A controversial proposal to sell federal lands in a dozen states, including Utah, as part of the tax bill working its way through Congress made headlines for a couple of weeks until Sen. Mike Lee scrapped the idea.
But public land ownership in Utah continues to be an issue.
A new report from the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute released Wednesday breaks down who owns what in the Beehive State. Titled “Utah’s Land Ownership Legacy: A History and Inventory of Utah’s Lands,” the 20-page report examines how federal, state, tribal, and private land ownership impacts economic development, public finance, recreation, culture and conservation.
“Utah’s land ownership patterns are inextricably linked to federal public lands policy,” said Eric Albers, senior natural resources analyst at the Gardner Institute and lead author of the report.
“This report offers historical context on federal land policy and provides an inventory of state and county-level ownership, illustrating how past policies shape the current ownership landscape.”
Utah — covering 54.3 million total acres — has the second-highest percentage of federal land among all 50 states at 64.4%, second only to Nevada at 80.1%. Just over one-fifth of land in Utah is privately owned, with the rest owned by the state (10%) or governed by tribal nations (4.5%).
Report highlights:
- Utah is one of five states with greater than 50% federal land ownership and 18 of 29 counties have more than 50% federal land ownership.
- Private ownership varies significantly by county, ranging from 3.7% in Wayne County to 93.2% in Morgan County.
- Davis County is the only county with a majority of land owned by the state at 64.3%, driven by the Great Salt Lake’s sovereign lands.
- The Defense Department manages over one-third of Tooele County, including Dugway Proving Ground, Utah Test and Training Range and Tooele Army Depot.
- Tribal lands exist throughout the state and comprise over 10% of the land in San Juan, Duchesne, and Uintah counties.
Who manages land in Utah?
Four federal agencies — Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and Defense Department — manage 99.7% of federal land in Utah. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Energy administer the remainder, according to the report.
The BLM manages 22.7 million acres, while the Forest Service oversees 8.1 million acres located mostly or wholly within five national forests in the state, according to the report. Of that total, over 18.6 million acres are “unappropriated,” meaning they have no designation.
The National Park Service manages 2.1 million acres of land in Utah, including 834,742 acres that belong to its five National Parks — Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion.
Last August, Utah sought permission from the U.S. Supreme Court to file a bill of complaint against the federal government to challenge the constitutionality of BLM’s indefinite retention of unappropriated lands in the state.
In January, the high court denied Utah’s motion, issuing no opinion. Utah, however, can still file a lawsuit in federal court. Should Utah obtain any of those unappropriated lands, they would be managed under the Utah Public Lands Management Act passed by the Legislature in 2016.
Republican state leaders have said they plan to continue the effort to control unappropriated BLM land and would likely sue in federal court.
The state of Utah owns 5.4 million acres of land, covering 10.0% of the state. Nearly two-thirds is managed by the Utah Trust Lands Administration, and 38.3% is managed by the Utah Department of Natural Resources. Several other state agencies manage the remainder.
