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~ 0013 The terms "public domain" and "reserved lands" are most often used to refer to land that has been owned ~ontinuously by the federal government. There is a third category of federally owned land that includes lands acquired by the federal government from private ownership py purchase, exchange, gift, or condemnation pursuant to statutory authori- zation. See, e.g., 43 U.S.C. S 315g(c) & (d) (grazing lands); 16 U.S.C.-S-515 et seq. (national forest lands). These "acquired" lands-may become part of the public domain, or may be set aside for specific federal purposes in the same manner as reserved lands. When acquired lands are set aside, they are not characterized as reserved lands, because they were not, strictly speaking, reserved from existing public domain lands. They are nonetheless usually managed under the same statutory authority and for the same purposes as reserved lands, 30/ and therefore for most purposes can be considered as part of a federal reservation. See Rawson v. United States, 225 F.2d 855, 856 (9th C~ 1955), cert. denied, 350 U.S. 934 (1956) ("It may be stated as a unIVersal proposition that patented lands reacquired by the United States are not by mere force of the reacquisition restored to the public domain. Absent legiSlative or authoritative directions to the contrary, they remain in the class of lands acquired for special uses, such as parks, national monuments, and the like. . . ."); Thompson v. United States, 308 F.2d 628, 632 (9th Cir. 1962). Until the end of the nineteenth century, federal policy emphasized and encouraged settlement and transfer of the public lands to private ownership. See Comment, "Federal Non-Reserved Water Rights," 15 Land and Water L. Rev. 67, 69 (1980); 1 Clark, supra, S 20.2. Since that time, however, federal policy has sh~fted increasingly towards conservation and retention of land in federal ownership and management. The emphasis on retention of lands in federal ownership began around the turn of the century, with establishment by Congress of several national parks and forests, and passage of statutes of general applicability authorizing the reservation of federally owned land for national forests, parks and historic monuments, 31/ and authorizing management of public domain land to promote purposes such as grazing or wide use of the resources on such lands. 32/ In addition, the federal government began to 30/ For example, S 521 of the Forest Service statute provides tnat acquired forest service lands "shall be permanently reserved, held and administered as national forest lands under the provisions of section 47l of this title and Acts supplemental to and amendatory thereof." 16 U.S.C. S 521. 31/ See nn. 25, 26 supra. 32/ See n.24 supra. - 17 -