Federal Land Management: Streamlining and Reorganization Issues
Highlights
GAO discussed ways to improve the management of federal lands. GAO noted that: (1) the responsibilities of the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Forest Service have become increasingly similar; (2) federal land management has become increasingly complex due to the differences among laws and regulations; (3) federal land management agencies could be more cost efficient and ecologically effective if they improve their organizational structures and interagency relationships; (4) the two basic strategies to improve federal land management include streamlining the management structure by coordinating and integrating functions, systems, activities, programs, and field locations, and combining land management agencies; and (5) due to the lack of consensus for change, no legislation to streamline or reorganize the federal land management agencies has been enacted.