SALT LAKE CITY — States and the federal government share a vital economic relationship. This data summary, the fourth in a series on state and federal economic linkages from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, presents the Utah-federal government nexus for Utah public lands.
“Lands under federal management include national forests, national parks, national monuments, national recreation areas, wilderness areas, and unappropriated Bureau of Land Management land,” said Eric Albers, senior natural resources analyst at the Gardner Institute. “The federal government also owns military installations in Utah, which are not considered ‘public land.’”
Key findings from the summary include the following:
Size and Composition - The federal government owns 64.4% of Utah’s total land area (35.0 million out of 54.3 million acres). The federal government holds in trust for tribal nations an additional 4.5% of the state’s land. Two federal land management agencies administer 88.5% of all federally controlled land, with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) managing 65.1% and the Forest Service managing 23.4%. The National Park Service manages 6.0% of federal land, and the Department of Defense administers 5.2%.
Location - Federal land ownership ranges from a low of 4.0% in Morgan County to a high of 90.0% in Garfield County. Counties in northern Utah and along the Wasatch Front have some of the lowest rates of federal land in the state. Federal land comprises more than 50% of the total acreage in 18 Utah counties.
Employment - Federal land management agencies employed over 3,000 Utahns in 2024, split between the Forest Service (1,490), BLM (952), National Park Service (661), and Fish and Wildlife Service (69).
Natural Resource Revenues - In 2024, the federal government collected $186.3 million in natural resources revenue from rents, bonuses, and royalties and disbursed $93.7 million back to Utah. The federal government’s revenue from natural resource extraction varies year to year and peaked in 2008 at $552.4 million.