Doesn’t say much, because if a state has more national parks, it automatically will have more of its land come under Federal authority. Alaska seems like a case of that, exactly.
Good point. Add to that the idea that beyond the 13 colonies, much of the land came into U.S. possession as government-owned land (acquired from Britain, France, Mexico, or Native Americans). A large portion of that was sold to speculators who divided it into parcels to be sold to settlers.
If you look at the arable lands, you get a feel for where the most-desired land for settlers was located -- less government-owned land resulted in more purchase of government lands for farming or mining. The map tends to support that.
The feds own way more that national parks in the west.