Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act Restrictions and ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Agencies Have Submitted Nominations under the State-Level Process, But None Have Resulted in a Land Acquisition In addition to the acquisitions in the secretarial initiative, the agencies have submitted 14 acquisition nominations valued at $71.1 million to statelevel interagency teams for consideration, but not one has resulted in a completed acquisition. Of the $14.1 million in land acquisitions awaiting a secretarial decision, $13.7 million, or 97 percent, is for inholdings and $458,000 million—or 3 percent—is for adjacent land. Table 5 shows the data we gathered from BLM state offices on the status of the nominations that have been submitted. Table 5: FLTFA Land Acquisition Nominations Reviewed by State-Level Interagency Teams, as of May 31, 2007 a Agency BLM State Federally designated area Arizona Hells Canyon Wilderness California Coachella Valley Fringe-Toed Lizard Area of Critical Environmental Concern Nevada Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area Nevada Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest New Mexico Gila Lower Box Area of Critical Environmental Concern New Mexico Continental Divide National Scenic Trail Forest Service New Mexico Elk Springs Area of Critical Environmental Concern Nevada Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Nevada Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Inholding or adjacent land Acres Requested amount b State-level interagency decision If approved, status of secretarial approval, as of November 30, 2007 Inholding 640 $3,000,000 Approved Not yet submitted Adjacent 301 458,000 c Approved Pending Inholding 80 16,015,000 Approved Approved Adjacent 320 29,126,000 Approved Withdrawn Adjacent 1,880 2,055,000 Denied d Inholding 5,000 1,530,825 Denied e Inholding 2,280 1,810,000 Approved Pending Inholding 320 1,230,000 Approved Approved f Inholding 385 3,530,000 Approved Approved f Page 31 GAO-08-196 Federal Land Management - -
Agency State Federally designated area Nevada Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest New Mexico Cibola National Forest New Mexico Santa Fe National Forest New Mexico Santa Fe National Forest Wyoming Bridger-Teton National Forest Inholding or adjacent land Acres Requested amount b State-level interagency decision Inholding 40 10,624,500 Approved Pending Inholding 160 160,000 Denied g Inholding 160 660,000 Approved Pending Inholding 160 560,000 Approved Pending Inholding 40 388,600 h Pending - Total 11,766 $71,147,925 Source: GAO analysis of information provided by BLM state offices. If approved, status of secretarial approval, as of November 30, 2007 a Although we requested information that had been updated as of May 31, 2007, the New Mexico interagency team provided information updated as of July 1, 2007. To provide the most current information, we are including the nominations in the July 1, 2007 data. b Requested amount includes the estimated value of the parcel and, in some cases, administrative costs associated with the acquisition. c The total value of this acquisition is estimated at $975,000. BLM plans to use LWCF funding to cover the remaining $517,000. d This nomination was denied because it is not immediately adjacent to a federally designated area. e While BLM nominated this parcel for acquisition, it was denied because the state interagency team determined this parcel is an inholding within a national forest. f This acquisition was approved by the Secretaries but was ultimately terminated due to negotiating issues with the seller. g This nomination was denied because it is a lower Forest Service priority. h The total value of this acquisition is estimated at $412,600. The Forest Service plans to use other funding sources to cover the remaining $24,000. The Nevada interagency team has submitted a total of five nominations for secretarial approval under FLTFA. It nominated two Forest Service acquisitions—a total of 705 acres valued at $4.76 million—in 2004. These were the first nominations submitted for secretarial approval under FLTFA. The Forest Service was unable to complete the purchases because of negotiating differences with the sellers. Of the remaining three Nevada nominations, one valued at $16 million was approved in November 2007, one valued at $10.6 million awaits approval, and one valued at $29 million has been withdrawn by the Nevada interagency team. Page 32 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 and 32: Agencies Have Purchased Few Parcels
Page 33 and 34: Table 4: Status of FLTFA Land Acqui
Page 35: Figure 7: Part of an Inholding in t
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 ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?