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Show and semitropical littoral conditions are all characteristic of public lands in one area or another. Great differences in terrain are also typical. The tallest mountain in North America, Mount McKinley in Alaska, is on public lands, as is the tallest mountain in the 48 contiguous states, Mount Whitney in California. But the lowest point in the United States, Death Valley, is also on public lands, as are most of the highest peaks in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Appalachians of the southeastern states. Not all of these lands are mountains and valleys, however. Vast areas of tundra and river deltas in Alaska are flat, marked only with an incredible number of small lakes. Other vast areas in the Great Basin area of Nevada and Oregon are not marked with lakes, but with desert shrubs. Still other areas of rolling timber-covered mountains extend for mile after mile, both in the Pacific Northwest and the Inland Empire of Idaho, eastern Washington, and western Montana, and in the Allegheny, Green, and Ouachita Mountains of Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Arkansas. And still other vast areas are rangelands used for grazing domestic livestock. However, not all of these public lands can be characterized as vast wild or semideveloped expanses. In many instances, Federal ownership is scattered in relatively small tracts among largely privately owned lands. The condition of the land may still be undeveloped, but our consideration of how the land should be used is necessarily influenced by the scattered nature of the Federal ownership. In some cases, public lands are found almost in the midst of urban areas and here again we must view the use of the lands in relation to the surrounding lands. The great diversity of these lands is a resource in itself. As needs of the Nation have changed, the public lands have been able to play a changing role in meeting these needs. Whether the demand is for minerals, crop production, timber, or recreation, and whether it is national or regional, the public lands are able to play a role in meeting them. Historical Development Many of the present national public land attitudes and policies can be traced to historical backgrounds. While today one thinks of Alaska and the 11 western states as "public land states," 19 others in the Middle West and the South were carved from land which was once public domain. The Federal Government, in the last 175 years, has granted or sold over one billion acres of public land, land which now constitutes a major portion of the productive base of the United States. Today we are a Nation of more than 200 million people and almost 2.3 billion acres of land. Some- 27 |