<P> In 1982 a seven - volume study conducted by the Appalachian Land Ownership Task Force was issued by the Appalachian Regional Commission which investigated the issue of absentee land ownership . The study covered 80 counties in six states approximating the area designated "Southern Appalachia" as defined by Thomas R. Ford's 1962 work . The states selected were Alabama (15 counties), Kentucky (12 counties), North Carolina (12 counties), Tennessee (14 counties), Virginia (12 counties), and West Virginia (15 counties). </P> <P> In its summary the report stated that "over 55,000 parcels of property in 80 counties were studied, representing some 20,000,000 acres of land and mineral rights ..." It found that "41% of the 20 million acres of land and minerals...are held by only 50 private owners and 10 government agencies . The federal government is the single largest owner in Appalachia, holding over 2,000,000 acres ." The study found that the extractive industries, i.e., timber, coal, etc., were "greatly underassessed for property tax purposes . Over 75% of the mineral owners in this survey pay under 25 cents per acre in property taxes ." In the major coal counties surveyed the average tax per ton of known coal reserves is only $. 0002 (1 / 50th of a cent). The government - held lands are tax exempt, but the government makes a payment in lieu of taxes, which is usually less than the normal tax rates . </P> <P> "Taken together, the failure to tax minerals adequately, the underassessment of surface lands, and the revenue loss from concentrated federal holdings has a marked impact on local governments in Appalachia . The effect, essentially, is to produce a situation in which a) the small owners carry a disproportionate share of the tax burden; b) counties depend upon federal and state funds to provide revenues, while the large, corporate and absentee owners of the regions's resources go relatively tax - free; and c) citizens face a poverty of needed services despite the presence in their counties of taxable property wealth, especially in the form of coal and other natural resources ." </P> <P> In 2013, a similar study that concentrated solely on West Virginia found that 25 private owners hold 17.6% of the state's private land of 13 million acres . The federal government owns 1,133,587 acres in West Virginia, 7.4% of the total state acreage of 15,410,560 acres . In 11 counties the top ten absentee landowners own 41% to almost 72% of the private land in each county . </P>

In 1820 approximately what percentage of the united states population lives west of the appalachians