New York Public Lands

0.7% of New York is federal land: 210,819 of its 30,680,960 acres (2024 data). The largest federal land manager in New York is the Department of Defense, with 130,636 acres, 0.4% of the state. This guide covers 209 state parks, 23 National Park Service units, 1 national forest, 1 wilderness areas, and 12 national wildlife refuges.

Explore New York public lands by type

New York public land map

  • National forests
  • National parks, recreation areas and monuments (NPS)
  • National wildlife refuges (FWS)
  • State parks
  • Wilderness areas (dashed)
Land managed by (switch layers on or off)

Land ownership: USGS PAD-US 4.1, dissolved by manager and simplified (parcels under about 2 square km not shown). Unit boundaries simplified. Not for navigation or legal boundaries.

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List of all 246 places on this map209 state parks · 23 national parks, recreation areas and monuments (nps) · 1 national forests · 1 wilderness areas · 12 national wildlife refuges (fws)

State parks (209)

National parks, recreation areas and monuments (NPS) (23)

National forests (1)

Wilderness areas (1)

National wildlife refuges (FWS) (12)

Who manages New York's land

Agency Acres Share of New York
Bureau of Land Management 0 0%
U.S. Forest Service 16,389 0.1%
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 29,679 0.1%
National Park Service 34,115 0.1%
Department of Defense 130,636 0.4%
All federal land 210,819 0.7%

Source: Congressional Research Service, Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data (R42346), 2024 data, checked 2026-09-30.

Camping on New York public land

National forest

Free dispersed camping is also allowed on Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests .

State parks

19 of New York's state parks have developed campgrounds on record; compare them in the New York state parks table.

Common questions

0.7% of New York is federal land: 210,819 of its 30,680,960 acres (2024 data).
The largest federal land manager in New York is the Department of Defense, with 130,636 acres, 0.4% of the state.
This guide lists 209 New York state parks and recreation areas, 19 of them with camping on record.

The sentences on this page are generated by software from the sourced records above, not written by hand. How this content is made.