The 7 largest landowners in the nation own 2% of its land mass.

[KamaAina]

http://www.bankrate.com/lite/real-estate/largest-landowners-in-the-nation-1.aspx

1. John Malone (Liberty Media)
2. Ted Turner (him you know )
3. the Emmerson family (timber in the Pacific Northwest)
4. Brad Kelley (tobacco)
5. the Irving family (timber, all in Maine!)
6. Henry Singleton (Teledyne)
7. King family heirs (King Ranch in TX; "The sun's done riz and the sun's done set, and I ain't offen the King Ranch yet!&quot

[meadowlark5]

1. John Malone is my neighbor and for now, I'm glad he owns so much land

I also know his daughter and you would never know she's the daughter of a multi-billionaire.

The area we live is rural but not far from suburbs - lots of old horse and ranch land and land developers have been chomping at the bit to get their hands on this super cheap land that no one uses for ranching anymore. Families and owners no longer make a profit by having this land and have been putting it up for sale. Every time a parcel goes up for sale, it's quickly purchased. I'm guessing it's Malone because it's not being developed, it's in the area of his ranch properties and county plans show nothing for future development.

My only hope with these land owners is they trust this land for conservation at some point. If they leave it in their estate and their children and family inherit so much land, can they be trusted not to sell it to the highest bidder without a care of what happens to it?

[KamaAina]

2. Ted Turner seems to be taking a similar approach

but the point is that four individuals and three families own two percent of the entire country's land mass. Bear in mind that the federal government owns an even larger chunk, so that's closer to three percent of all private holdings. Think of it as the real-estate version of income inequality.

[meadowlark5]

3. I agree.

But if, and that's a big if, the people who own it are good stewards and take steps to conserve it, it might not be a bad thing. Whether that will happen or not remains to be seen. I only hope so.

[malthaussen]

4. Is that all?

I'm scandalized! They should have more! It's all Obama's fault! And furthermore, Benghazi!

-- Mal