Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act Restrictions and ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Under a Secretarial Initiative, BLM Reports Agencies Spent $10.1 Million on the First Land Acquisitions 7 Years after FLTFA Was Enacted activities involved in preparing land for sale under FLTFA mostly between 2004 and 2007. BLM offices in Nevada spent $2.6 million of this total. No land acquisitions had occurred during the first 7 years of FLTFA. Because the state–level implementation process had not resulted in any acquisitions, BLM decided to jump-start the acquisition program and conduct purchases under secretarial discretion, as provided for in the MOU. In the spring of 2006, BLM headquarters officials solicited nominations from the FLTFA leads in each of the other three agencies. Most of the nominations agency officials provided were previously submitted for funding under LWCF. This secretarial initiative was approved by the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior in May 2007. The 2007 secretarial initiative provided $18 million in funding for 13 land acquisition projects, including 19 parcels of land located in seven states— Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Oregon, and Wyoming. Specifically, the initiative consisted of 9,049 acres and included projects for each agency: six BLM projects for $10.15 million, two Fish and Wildlife Service projects for $1.75 million, two Forest Service projects for $3.5 million, and three Park Service projects for $2.6 million. Only 1 of the 19 parcels is an adjacent land; the rest are inholdings. Since the initiative was approved, BLM reported a number of changes that the agencies made to the original list of land acquisition projects. For example, the total number of acres increased to 9,987 in a total of eight states. As of January 23, 2008, BLM reported that the agencies had wholly or partially completed 8 of the 13 approved acquisition projects. Specifically, the agencies spent $10.1 million between August 2007 and January 2008 to complete the acquisition of the first nine parcels under the secretarial initiative. 22 The acquisitions include 3,381 acres in seven states—Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Wyoming. See table 4 for a complete description of the current status of these projects. 22 An acquisition is considered complete when the property title is transferred from the nonfederal landowner to the federal government. Page 27 GAO-08-196 Federal Land Management
Table 4: Status of FLTFA Land Acquisition Projects Approved under the Secretarial Initiative, as of January 23, 2008 Agency BLM State Federally designated area Acres FLTFA funding Status California Coachella Valley Fringe-Toed Lizard Area of Critical Environmental Concern a 321 $850,000 Complete Colorado Canyons of the Ancients National Monument 469 500,000 Incomplete Idaho Snake River Area of Critical Environmental Concern b 1,674 4,700,000 Partially complete c New Mexico La Cienega Area of Critical Environmental Concern El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail 178 2,200,000 Complete Oregon Rogue National Wild and Scenic River 32 600,000 Incomplete Wyoming North Platte River Special Recreation Management Area California National Historic Trail Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail Pony Express National Historic Trail Oregon National Historic Trail 277 1,300,000 Complete Subtotal 2,951 $10,150,000 Fish and Wildlife Service Montana Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge 2,159 1,425,000 Complete d Oregon Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge 42 325,000 Partially complete e Subtotal Forest Service 2,201 $1,750,000 Arizona Tonto National Forest 11 635,000 Complete California Six Rivers National Forest Smith River National Recreation Area Goose Creek National Wild and Scenic River 4,303 2,865,000 Incomplete Subtotal Park Service 4,314 $3,500,000 Idaho Nez Perce National Historic Park Nez Perce National Historic Trail 510 200,000 Incomplete f New Mexico Aztec Ruins National Monument 10 200,000 Incomplete Page 28 GAO-08-196 Federal Land Management
Page 1 and 2: GAO February 2008 GAO-08-196 United
Page 3 and 4: Contents Letter 1 Results in Brief
Page 5 and 6: Abbreviations BLM Bureau of Land Ma
Page 7 and 8: providing security, and protecting
Page 9 and 10: evenue to acquire specific parcels
Page 11 and 12: BLM faces several challenges to rai
Page 13 and 14: Background Federal Land Sales Autho
Page 15 and 16: Federal Land Acquisition Funding ti
Page 17 and 18: FLTFA Requirements on Use of Revenu
Page 19 and 20: BLM Has Raised Most FLTFA Revenue f
Page 21 and 22: Figure 3: FLTFA Revenue by Fiscal Y
Page 23 and 24: BLM Faces Several Challenges to Fut
Page 25 and 26: Most BLM States Have Planned FLTFA
Page 27 and 28: Figure 5: BLM “North Fork” 167-
Page 29 and 30: FLTFA’s Restriction on Land Avail
Page 31: Agencies Have Purchased Few Parcels
Page 35 and 36: Figure 7: Part of an Inholding in t
Page 37 and 38: Agency State Federally designated a
Page 39 and 40: The nomination that was withdrawn b
Page 41 and 42: State-Level Process Has Not Yet Res
Page 43 and 44: BLM Reports Spending $3.2 Million o
Page 45 and 46: Agencies Face Challenges in Complet
Page 47 and 48: Compliance with Specific Provisions
Page 49 and 50: The Agencies Have Yet to Establish
Page 51 and 52: Matters for Congressional Considera
Page 53 and 54: If you or your staff have questions
Page 55 and 56: Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and
Page 57 and 58: Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and
Page 59 and 60: Appendix II: Completed FLTFA Land S
Page 69 and 70: Appendix III: Detailed Information
Page 71 and 72: Appendix III: Detailed Information
Page 73 and 74: Appendix IV: Comments from the Depa
Page 75 and 76: Appendix V: GAO Contact and Staff A

Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act Restrictions and ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?