Who Should Control Those Wild, Open Spaces?

The federal government owns about 28 percent of the country's land mass. In the west, that percentage jumps to nearly 50 percent. And in states like Oregon, Utah and Nevada, it's well over that.

It's land that makes up national parks, forests, monuments and wildlife refuges. But it's also leased for grazing livestock and extracting timber and oil.

So, what would it mean if the federal government did what many critics have been asking for, and transferred those lands to states? The Northwest News Network's Emily Schwing reports.

Emily Schwing, Inland Northwest correspondent for the Northwest News Network. She tweets @EmilySchwing.