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Excerpt from Land of the Free, Vol. 40: Conservation Bulletin, 1951 We, the people of the United States, have a vested interest in approximately 500 million acres of public lands, located in 26 States and the Territory of Alaska. The Bureau of Land Management of the Department of the Interior manages these lands for us. At its greatest extent - totaling acres - the public domain included the land which became Florida, Alabama, and Missis sippi and all of the States north and west of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, except Texas. In other words, all the States and Alaska, except the Thirteen Original States, and the States of Kentucky, Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Texas are called the public land States. Today the area of. Vacant Federal land in the States has shrunk to acres of which acres are within grazing dis tricts and acres lie outside of districts. Vacant lands in Alaska amount to 270 million acres. The total area of public lands within grazing districts, including lands administered under agreement and Pierce Act leases totals acres and is sometimes known as the Federal range. To gether, the Federal range and vacant lands in the West are commonly referred to as the public range. Including acres of forest land in the Oregon and California Railroad and Coos Bay Wagon Road revested land grants and other miscellaneous tracts, the Bureau of Land Management is responsible for the management of a total of more than 185 million acres in' the United States and 290 million acres of land in Alaska. The total area of land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau is equal to one-fourth the area of continental United States and is exclusive of land in National Forests, National Parks and Monuments, and most other tracts of Federal land reserved for the armed services and other public agencies. This booklet, issued as Conservation Bulletin N o. 40 of the Department of the Interior, gives basic information on the people's unreserved acres and the