41%

Because the land sales happened over a long stretch of time, and there were so many of them, and so many involved tracts of land moderate in size, they tended not to attract a lot of attention, and their accumulated amount largely escaped notice. That end result should and may, though, stick in the memory of more than a few Idahoans, because it’s reducible to one startling number: 41%. That’s the portion of the 4.2 million acres of land the state of Idaho had at statehood, granted from the federal government, which has been sold off since – 1.8 million acres. That number was the result of research and mathematics undertaken by The Wilderness Society, a conservation group which researched land sales through the state’s history/ Randy Stapilus , Ridenbaugh Press. More here.