Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act Restrictions and ...

authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to dispose of certain federal
lands—through sale and exchange, among other disposal methods—and
authorizes the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior to acquire
certain nonfederal lands. FLPMA also authorizes the Secretary of
Agriculture to exchange land. FLPMA requires the Secretary of the Interior
to develop land use plans to determine which lands are eligible for
disposal and acquisition. The level of specificity differs in land use plans,
from describing general areas to naming specific parcels. In developing
these land use plans, agencies must work closely with federal, state, and
local governments and allow for public participation. Land use plans are
typically revised every 15 to 20 years to address changing land use
conditions in the area covered.
Sales and acquisitions must comply with requirements of FLPMA and
other applicable laws, which can require, among other things, an
assessment of the environmental impacts of the proposed land
transaction, assessment of natural and cultural resources, preparation of
appraisals, and public involvement. Furthermore, with regard to land sales
specifically, FLPMA requires that land be sold at the appraised fair market
value or higher.
Although BLM policy states that competitive sales are preferred when a
number of parties are interested in bidding on a parcel for sale, regulations
for the FLPMA land sales authority provide for other methods of sale
when certain criteria are met. The regulations state that modified
competitive sales may be used to permit the current grazing user or
adjoining landowner to meet the high bid at the public sale. This
procedure allows for limited competitive sales to protect ongoing uses, to
assure compatibility of the possible uses with adjacent land, and to avoid
dislocating current users. The regulations state that a direct sale may be
used when the land offered for sale is completely surrounded by land in
one ownership with no public access, when the land is needed by state or
local governments or nonprofit corporations, or when the land is
necessary to protect current equities in the land or resolve inadvertent
unauthorized use or occupancy of the land.
In completing the steps necessary to purchase land, third-party
organizations, such as The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public
Land, often provide assistance to the federal government. For example,
third parties may assist by purchasing desired land for eventual resale to
the federal government or by negotiating an option with the seller to
purchase land within a specified period of time, which provides additional
Page 9 GAO-08-196 Federal Land Management