“returned to the state”
Lands cannot be “returned to the state” if the state never owned them in the first place.
The area known today as Nevada originally became federal property after the Mexican American War and administered as a territory.
Statehood did not come until 1864. Any lands not settled, granted to the state, or open for homesteading remained federal property.
Now I agree with your premise that the state should own the land within its borders, but the feds would have to grant the ownership to the state, which could likely be done through legislation at the federal level.
semantics
turned over to the state
returned to the state
same difference. In the end, the state owns the land.