Trust land totaled 7,475,297 acres at statehood. Since then, about half of what was originally granted to the state has been sold to private owners. More than 30 percent of what is now private land in Utah was originally trust land. The cash from the sale of those trust lands was deposited into the permanent funds of the beneficiaries. In 1976, the federal government put an end to homesteading in the public domain.
Federal lands are no longer available to private citizens as in years past.
In Utah, almost 70 percent of the land area remains in federal control, with only about 21 percent privately owned. The Trust Lands Administration, with roughly seven percent of the land in the state, is essentially the only source of new private land in Utah. The Trust Lands Administration manages a 3.5 million-acre real estate portfolio for the financial benefit of the12 beneficiaries. Trust lands include both surface lands and mineral lands. The 3.5 million acres discussed so far refer to surface lands in the trust.