The government made it literally the only way to claim much of the land out west[]. They require that you come up with an agricultural land including plan for watering crops on that acreage in order to claim the land. And you're required to execute the plan to get the deed.

In fact, this is the only remaining way I know of to more or less 'homestead' federal land in a way that results in a permanent deed. The rest of the homesteading type stuff was revoked back in like the 70s or 80s.

[] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Land_Act

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datsci_est_2015 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Is this relevant in 2026? Are people still claiming land via the 1877 Desert Land Act?

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mothballed 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Yet it's still active. As a pure anecdote, I know of someone doing it right now.

https://www.blm.gov/sites/default/files/Desert%20Land%20Entr...

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JumpCrisscross 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Is this an opportunity that opened up with this administration? Or has the BLM been quietly processing these for the last century?

	▲	mothballed 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		AFAIK it's been available since the 1870s but after the 20s they clamped down a lot harder on ensuring you were actually irrigating it and had agricultural plans. I'm not sure if the BLM has relaxed their discretion under Trump.

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tekla 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Do you think laws go away just because they're old?

The Colorado River compact came into effect in 1922 and I'm almost surprised literal fist fights haven't erupted over it during the modern negotiations.