Glossary of Land Use Categories Cropland-Total cropland includes five components: cropland harvested, crop failure, cultivated summer fallow, cropland used only for pasture, and idle cropland. Cropland harvested includes row crops and closely sown crops; hay and silage crops; tree fruits, small fruits, berries, and tree nuts; vegetables and melons; and miscellaneous other minor crops. Farmers double-cropped nearly 4 percent of this acreage. Crop failure consists mainly of the acreage on which crops failed because of weather, insects, and diseases, but includes some land not harvested due to lack of labor, low market prices, or other factors. The acreage planted to cover and soil-improvement crops not intended for harvest is excluded from crop failure and is considered idle. In recent years, crops have failed on 2-3 percent of acreage planted for harvest. Cultivated summer fallow refers to cropland in subhumid regions of the West cultivated for one or more seasons to control weeds and accumulate moisture before small grains are planted. This practice is optional in some areas, but it is necessary for crop production in the drier cropland areas of the West. Other types of fallow, such as cropland planted to soil-improvement crops but not harvested and cropland left idle all year, are not included in cultivated summer fallow but are included as idle cropland. Cropland used only for pasture generally is considered to be in long-term crop rotation. However, some land classed as cropland pasture is marginal for crop uses and may remain in pasture indefinitely. This category also includes land that was used for pasture before crops reach maturity and some land used for pasture that could have been cropped without additional improvement. Cropland pasture and permanent grassland pasture have not always been clearly distinguished in agricultural surveys. Land idled under annual Federal crop programs could have been pastured except during a consecutive 5-month period between April 1 and October 31 designated by the State Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee. If such acreage conservation reserve or conservation use acres were pastured at any time during the year, the Census requested that they be reported as cropland pasture. Land in the CRP could not be pastured. Idle cropland includes land in cover and soil-improvement crops and cropland on which no crops were planted. Some cropland is idle each year for various physical and economic reasons. Acreages diverted from crops to soil-conserving uses (if not eligible for and used as cropland pasture) under Federal farm programs are included in this component. Cropland used for crops-Three of the cropland acreage components-cropland harvested, crop failure, and cultivated summer fallow-are collectively termed cropland used for crops, or the land input to crop production. Grassland pasture and range—Grassland pasture and range comprise all open land used primarily for pasture and grazing, including shrub and brushland types of pasture, grazing land with sagebrush and scattered mesquite, and all tame and native grasses, legumes, and other forage used for pasture or grazing. Because of the diversity in vegetative composition, grassland pasture and range are not always clearly distinguishable from other types of pasture and range. At one extreme, permanent grassland may merge with cropland pasture, or grassland may often be found in transitional areas with forested grazing land. This category does not include any land currently in the CRP. Forest land grazed-Forested pasture and range consist mainly of forest, brushgrown pasture, arid woodlands, and other areas within forested areas that have grass or other forage growth. The total acreage of forested grazing land includes woodland pasture in farms plus rough estimates of forested grazing land not in farms. For many States, the estimates include significant areas grazed only lightly or sporadically. Forest land-As defined by the Forest Service, forest land is "land at least 10% stocked by trees of any size, including land that formerly had such tree cover and that will be naturally or artificially regenerated. Forest land includes transition zones, such as areas between heavily forested and nonforested lands that are at least 10% stocked with forest trees and forest areas adjacent to urban and built up lands. Also included are pinyon-juniper and chaparral areas in the West and afforested areas" (Powell and others, 1993, p. 117). Forest-use land-A modified total used in this inventory of 648 million acres of forest land that excludes an estimated 89 million acres in parks, wildlife areas, and similar special-purpose uses. To eliminate all overlap with other uses is not feasible, but this reduced area is a more realistic approximation of the land that may be expected to serve normal forest uses as opposed to having forest cover. Forest-use land includes forested grazing land in this report. Special-use areas-Special uses in this report include urban areas; highway, road, and railroad rights-of-way and airports; Federal and State parks, wilderness areas, and wildlife refuges; national defense and industrial areas; and miscellaneous farmland uses. Miscellaneous other land-Includes miscellaneous special uses such as industrial and commercial sites in rural areas, cemeteries, golf courses, mining areas, quarries, marshes, swamps, sand dunes, bare rocks, deserts, tundra, and other unclassified land. Table 1.1.14-Cropland idled by Federal program and commodity, 1978-95, continued1 0.4 2.1 32.2 3.9 5.4 12.9 25.5 23.3 14.1 14.5 11.3 9.3 15.2 6.6 12.0 55.2 60.7 50.8 56.3 337 330 339 333 A blank cell indicates program was not in effect that year for that crop. 2 Distributions may not add to totals due to rounding. 3 Includes cropland participating in the 0,50/85-92 programs but planted to allowed minor oilseeds or industrial/other crops. 4 Data represent the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) from 1986-94. There was no long-term retirement program between 1977 and 1986. Source: USDA, ERS, compiled from unpublished materials provided by the Farm Service Agency. 1.2 Land Tenure LAND While most U.S. land was once held by the Federal Ownership of U.S. Land The land surface of the United States covers 2.3 billion acres. Sixty percent (1.4 billion acres) is privately owned, 29 percent is owned by the Federal Government, 9 percent is owned by State and local governments, and 2 percent is on Indian reservations (fig. 1.2.1). Virtually all cropland is privately owned, as is over half of grassland pasture and range and forest land (table 1.2.1; cropland and other terms are defined in the Glossary, p. 38). Federal, State, and local government holdings consist primarily of forest land and other land. While 60 percent of U.S. land is privately owned Figure 1.2.1--Land ownership in the As of 1995, 1.1 billion acres of the original public domain (51 percent of total U.S. area) had been granted or sold by the Federal Government to States, corporations, and individuals (table 1.2.3). Grants to States totaled 329 million acres, including 65 million acres of wetlands granted on condition that proceeds from their subsequent sale to individuals be used to convert those acres to agricultural production. Another 288 million acres were granted or sold directly to homesteaders on condition that the land be settled and cultivated. Disposition of Federal lands had slowed by the 1930's, and in 1976 the Federal Land Policy and Management Act explicitly directed that most remaining Federal lands be retained in Federal ownership (National Research Council, 1993). Remaining Federal lands totaled 650 million acres in 1993 (table 1.2.4). Most lands in Federal ownership are managed by four agencies: USDA's Forest Service; and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and National Park Service (NPS) (table 1.2.5). Federal lands are concentrated in Alaska and the West (fig. 1.2.2, table 1.2.6). Forest Service and BLM lands are managed for a variety of uses, including grazing, timber harvest, and wilderness preservation, while FWS and NPS lands are managed primarily for preservation and recreation. Controversies over public lands, for example with regard to grazing and timber harvests, have prompted proposals to transfer management, if not ownership, of some of these lands to States and 1 Excludes areas eliminated by the treaty of 1819 with Spain. Adjusted for the recomputation of the areas of the United States that was made for the 1980 decennial census. 2 3 Nominal dollars. Source: USDA, ERS, based on U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, 1996. |