Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act Restrictions and ...

Agency State Federally designated area Acres
FLTFA
funding Status
Wyoming Grand Teton National Park 1 2,200,000 Complete
Subtotal 521 $2,600,000
Total 9,987 g
$18,000,000
Source: GAO analysis of information provided by BLM headquarters.
a
This is the only property in the secretarial initiative that is adjacent to federal land; the rest are
inholdings.
b Five parcels are included in this project. In addition, BLM has added one 300-acre parcel valued at
$500,000 to the list of parcels under this project. The BLM FLTFA program lead said this parcel was
included because of its high resource value but added that the agencies will remain within the $18
million spending level approved by the Secretaries. Of these six parcels, five totaling 1,872 acres will
be acquired through easement, and one totaling 102 acres will be acquired in fee.
c
As of January 23, 2008, a 102-acre parcel had been acquired in fee and an easement had been
acquired on a 300-acre parcel.
d BLM reports that an acquisition at the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge originally included in this
secretarial initiative failed due to expired options on the property. The Director of the Fish and Wildlife
Service has substituted an acquisition at the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge for the same
amount of funding.
e
Two parcels are included in this project.
f Two parcels, both for easements, are included in this project.
g Some of the acres acquired or planned for acquisition were funded in part by sources other than
FLTFA: the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund.
Figure 7 shows part of the acquisition site within the La Cienega Area of
Critical Environmental Concern. According to BLM, it selected this site for
acquisition because (1) it is an archeologically rich area preserving ancient
rock art and (2) the riparian cottonwood and willow forest that line the
Santa Fe River and its La Cienega Creek tributary provide critical habitat
for threatened and endangered wildlife, such as the bald eagle and
southwest willow flycatcher. The final purchase price was $2.2 million.
Page 29 GAO-08-196 Federal Land Management