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Public Lands Are Cool!
Public lands are lands owned by the people of the United States and/or Alaska. These lands belong to you and me, for our use, enjoyment and inspiration. We are really lucky in Alaska. There are over 300 million acres of public lands here. Some states on the East Coast have very few public lands. If you would like to hike or hunt, you have to knock on a private land owner's door and ask to use his property. Here in Alaska, we have lots of public lands available to all of us.
There are four types of public lands in Alaska: National Parks, State Parks, National Forests, and National Wildlife Refuges.
What can people do on public lands?
People can picnic, hike, fish, hunt, ski, take pictures, pick berries, goldpan, snowmobile, and watch wildlife...There are a variety of recreational uses of our public lands. And that's not all! Public lands not only supply us with recreation and enjoyment; they also give us fish and meat, berries and natural resources like oil and gas, minerals, and timber.
Public lands are important to wildlife, too. Some lands are set aside to protect places where wildlife live and raise their families. Some of these animals are endangered species. Other public lands are used by migrating birds as nesting and resting spots on their long flight south for the winter.
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