Are you aloud to live in national forest?

[danny1987]

I was Looking on google earth through malhuer national forest. I saw alot of houses along a stretch of a road. Im guessing maybe they are abandoned. Are people aloud to live in national forest?

 

[Montauk3]

Only if they are not loud about it.

 

[Seamuss]

There is land that is leased to home owners on some major roads in the National Forest that have been grandfathered in the deal where they can own their cabin and lease the land under that cabin. The lease only gives them access to their cabin and no other land rights to the land itself other then a rental type arrangement with the Forest Service for the land(up to an acre or so).

I don't know the specifics to these type of lease agreements but know a couple of people who are in this type of lease.

 

[limegoldconvertible68]

I am familiar with the Hoosier NF and the Shawnee NF. In both of these the boundary was drawn but the gov didn't buy up the all the land immediately. Many people still live in the NF on their own private property. At the ranger stations you can buy maps that show in green which areas are gov owned. Its shocking to realize most of the land in the NF is still private. Even when a land owner decides to sell unless its a key piece of land that borders already gov owned land chances are it will be sold to another private individual. The counties where this land is are usually opposed to anymore gov purchases because that takes the land off the tax roles.

 

[dcinffxva]

They could be structures the park staff live in.

 

[Siegfried Schlagrule]

Sometimes to forestall court fights when the feds seize land for a park
they pay the mandated fee assigned by the courts and grant the owners
a "life right" to live there. They stay until they die and then the land
reverts to the feds not the heirs. Sometimes the people pay a small
fee as rent to the feds and other times they live there for free. Pretty
good deal for them either way as they no longer have to pay the real
estate taxes once the title passes to the feds. siegfried schlagrule