How the Government Carves Up the Outdoors, By the Numbers
For the last three years, Steve Ballmer, former Microsoft CEO and LA Clippers owner and part-time spirit dancer, has been trying to “figure out what the government really does” with the trillions of dollars it spends each year.
Ballmer’s $10 million answer came out last month, in the form of USAFacts, a website built from the reams of data the U.S. government releases publicly each year. Ballmer says he wants USAFacts to be a sort of 10-K—the public filing corporations must make annually—for the government. It’s filled with stats on police departments, welfare spending, and defense budget line items. It is also, excitingly, a repository of information on the government’s role as landowner and environmental steward.
With help from Ballmer’s team, we pulled together a few of the most salient data points. For example, government spending (at the state and federal levels) on “sustainability and self-sufficiency” totaled $109.4 billion in 2014, accounting for about two percent of total government spending. Among the most interesting takeaways: America’s spending on the outdoors is declining, the cost of fishing and hunting tags is outpacing inflation significantly, and the long-anticipated renewable energy revolution isn't here yet.
Land Use
We're Not Getting Many More Parks
Total national park acres, 2000: 84,327,466
Total national park acres, 2015: 84,735,954
But We Are Drilling More on Federal Land
Drilling permits approved on federal land, 1990: 2,617
Drilling permits approved on federal land, 2015: 3,508
Under Obama, We Leased Way Less Land (Usually for Grazing and Extraction)
Total federal land leases, 1990: 79,609
New federal land leases, 1990: 6,552
Total federal land leases, 2015: 44,213
New federal land leases, 2015: 852
The Number of Forest Fires Remains Steady, But They're Getting Bigger
Forest fires, 1980: 66,481
Acres burned: 4,621,621
Forest fires, 2015: 68,151
Acres burned: 10,125,149
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https://www.outsideonline.com/2180136/how-government-carves-outdoors-numbers