There are lots of interesting legal precedents in American history for how 'vacated' and/or occupied land is dealt with by local and federal governments.
It depends on what the governments' goals are. When the government has wanted to encourage growth, you've got legislation like the Homestead Act. When the government wants land for its own uses, there's Imminent Domain. Then you've got stuff like sharecropping and the crop lien system. I think that you'd see a mix of these things depending on the local security and infrastructure situations.
I'm not sure how the law deals with squatters. As I said before, I think it would depend on the local situation. In a very depopulated area that the government is trying to 'civilize' squatting as a means of establishing future legal property rights might be encouraged. In other areas, the government might resort to forcibly evicting people it claims are squatting. A survival book I just got at Costco today recommended hanging on to legal documents proving property rights/ownership during an apocalyptic scenario in case civilization is restored someday.
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