Private ownership of forests and land reduces wildfires

When wildfires take lives, destroy homes and businesses, or darken the air with noxious smoke, Americans pay attention. They want to know why things got so out of control.

Discussions about the causes of wildfires typically focus on drought, extreme temperatures, severe winds and the buildup of dry vegetation. But economics plays a critical role, too -- especially land ownership and property rights in the fire-prone American West.

America’s largest landowner , by far, is the federal government, which owns and manages about 46% of all the land in the 11 contiguous Western states. In fact, 55% of the area burned in wildfires last year was on federal land, a disproportionate amount. More than 80% of Nevada, 60% of Utah, Idaho and Alaska, half of Oregon, and nearly half of Californi