Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act Restrictions and ...

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created by FLTFA. 6 However, the act limits the revenue deposited into this account to that generated from sales or exchanges of public lands identified for disposal in a land use plan in effect as of July 25, 2000—the date of FLTFA’s enactment. Money in the new account is available to BLM and the other three agencies to purchase inholdings, and in some cases, land adjacent to federally designated areas and containing exceptional resources. 7 The act expires in July 2010, and the Administration has proposed revising and extending it. BLM sells its land in one of three ways: competitive sales; modified competitive sales, which provide a preference to existing land users or adjoining landowners; and direct sales, which occur in special situations, such as when parcels are completely surrounded by one landowner and there is no public access. BLM prefers competitive sales because these usually generate the most revenue and, therefore, are more likely to increase the revenue available under FLTFA for land acquisitions. BLM staff in headquarters, its 12 state offices, and 144 field offices nationwide manage and conduct these sales. 8 About 300 full-time equivalent staff, out of a workforce of about 10,500 full-time equivalent staff, are responsible for land and realty management in BLM. These staff are directly responsible for land sales and acquisitions, along with other realty responsibilities, such as processing energy rights-of-way and leasing and permitting on public lands. The federal land agencies have two methods for identifying land to acquire under FLTFA. First, the agencies can nominate parcels through a process laid out in state-level implementation agreements that were developed under the direction of a national memorandum of understanding (MOU) that implemented the program. Under the process, state-level interagency teams are to review proposals for land acquisitions and forward their nominations to the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior for approval. Second, the Secretaries can directly use a portion of FLTFA 6 This new account is referred to in the act as the Federal Land Disposal Account. Before FLTFA, revenue from these transactions were typically deposited into the U.S. Treasury’s general account. 7 According to the act (43 U.S.C. 2302), the term ‘‘exceptional resource’’ means a resource of scientific, natural, historic, cultural, or recreational value that has been documented by a federal, state, or local governmental authority, and for which there is a compelling need for conservation and protection under the jurisdiction of a Federal agency in order to maintain the resource for the benefit of the public. 8 For this report, “field offices” refers to BLM’s 26 district offices and 118 field offices. Page 3 GAO-08-196 Federal Land Management
evenue to acquire specific parcels of land at their own discretion. The national MOU laid out the expectation that most acquisitions would occur through the state-level process. FLTFA places several restrictions on using funds from the new U.S. Treasury account. Among other things, FLTFA requires that (1) no more than 20 percent can be used for BLM’s administrative and other activities necessary to carry out the land disposal program; (2) of the amount not spent on administrative expenses, at least 80 percent of the revenue must be expended in the state in which the funds were generated; and (3) at least 80 percent of FLTFA revenue required to be spent on land acquisitions within a state must be used to acquire inholdings (as opposed to adjacent land) within that state. In addition, the national MOU sets the allocation of funds from the FLTFA account for each agency—60 percent for BLM, 20 percent for the Forest Service, and 10 percent each for the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Park Service, but the Secretaries may vary from these allocations by mutual agreement. With FLTFA expiring in July 2010, you asked us to (1) determine the extent to which BLM has generated revenue for the FLTFA program, (2) identify challenges BLM faces in conducting future sales, (3) determine the extent to which agencies have spent funds under FLTFA, and (4) identify challenges the agencies face in conducting future acquisitions. To address these objectives, we reviewed FLTFA, other applicable authorities, and agency guidance, and interviewed FLTFA program leads at the four agencies’ headquarters, officials with Interior’s Office of the Solicitor, and officials with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management on FLTFA implementation. We also obtained and analyzed data from BLM’s Division of Business Services on program revenue and expenditures and visited the Division of Business Services accounting officials in Lakewood, Colorado, to discuss the management of the FLTFA account. 9 We conducted semistructured interviews and collected data from (1) the 10 BLM state officials responsible for the FLTFA program in their office on the program’s status, completed and planned FLTFA land sales and acquisitions, and the challenges faced in 9 Effective October 1, 2007, a reorganization of the BLM centers in Denver merged the National Business Center, National Human Resources Management Center, National Information Resources Management Center, and National Science and Technology Center into a single unit called the National Operations Center. The National Business Center is now known as the Division of Business Services. Page 4 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: providing security, and protecting
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 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 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
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
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