Federal Land Management: Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act Restrictions and Management Weaknesses Limit Future Sales and Acquisitions
GAO-08-196
Published: Feb 05, 2008. Publicly Released: Feb 05, 2008.
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Highlights
The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service manage about 628 million acres of public land, mostly in the 11 western states and Alaska. Under the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA), revenue raised from selling BLM lands is available to the agencies, primarily to acquire nonfederal land within the boundaries of land they already own--known as inholdings, which can create significant land management problems. To acquire land, the agencies can nominate parcels under state-level interagency agreements or the Secretaries can use their discretion to initiate acquisitions. FLTFA expires in 2010. GAO was asked to determine (1) FLTFA revenue generated, (2) challenges to future sales, (3) FLTFA expenditures, and (4) challenges to future acquisitions. To address these issues, GAO interviewed officials and examined the act, agency guidance, and FLTFA sale and acquisition data.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| If Congress decides to reauthorize FLTFA in 2010, it may wish to consider revising the following provision to better achieve the goals of the act: FLTFA limits eligible land sales to those lands identified in land use plans in effect as of July 25, 2000-- this provision excludes more recently identified land available for disposal, thereby reducing opportunities for raising additional revenue for land acquisition. |
Closed – Not Implemented
|
In a September 24, 2008 meeting, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials said that Congress had yet to act on the reauthorization of the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA), but added that numerous interested parties will be lobbying for the reauthorization in the spring of 2009. We will continue to monitor any action taken in terms of reauthorization of FLTFA and this matter for consideration in particular. On July 29, 2010, legislation extended FLTFA for a one-year period, through July 24, 2011. This legislation did not alter any other provisions in the original act. In a November 2, 2010 meeting, in commenting on the FLTFA extension, BLM officials said that at the time FLTFA expired on July 24, pursuant to the act, all funds in the Federal Land Disposal Account that had not been obligated by that time were removed from that account and transferred to the Land and Water Conservation Fund for use under section 3, as the act requires. They said this amounted to $52 million--$39 million which had been set aside for acquiring lands and $13 million which had been set aside for preparing land sales under FLTFA. The officials said that BLM has little incentive to conduct further land sales under FLTFA because of the costs and amount of work involved in preparing the sales and, given the limited one-year extension, the uncertainty that BLM and other agencies will be able to use any revenues generated to acquire lands. The officials said that efforts are being made to have the $52 million funding restored. As of August 2012, FLTFA has not been reauthorized and, therefore, the matter remains unimplemented. |
| If Congress decides to reauthorize FLTFA in 2010, it may wish to consider revising the following provision to better achieve the goals of the act: The requirement that agencies spend the majority of funds raised from eligible sales for acquisitions in the same state--this provision makes it difficult for agencies to acquire more desirable land in states that have generated little revenue. |
Closed – Not Implemented
|
In a September 24, 2008 meeting, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials said that Congress had yet to act on the reauthorization of the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA), but added that numerous interested parties will be lobbying for the reauthorization in the spring of 2009. We will continue to monitor any action taken in terms of reauthorization of FLTFA and this matter for consideration in particular. On July 29, 2010, legislation extended FLTFA for a one-year period, through July 24, 2011. This legislation did not alter any other provisions in the original act. In a November 2, 2010 meeting, in commenting on the FLTFA extension, BLM officials said that at the time FLTFA expired on July 24, pursuant to the act, all funds in the Federal Land Disposal Account that had not been obligated by that time were removed from that account and transferred to the Land and Water Conservation Fund for use under section 3, as the act requires. They said this amounted to $52 million--$39 which had been set aside for acquiring lands and $13 million which had been set aside for preparing land sales under FLTFA. The officials said that BLM has little incentive to conduct further land sales under FLTFA because of the costs and amount of work involved in preparing the sales and, given the limited one-year extension, the uncertainty that BLM and other agencies will be able to use any revenues generated to acquire lands. The officials said that efforts are being made to have the $52 million funding restored. As of August 2012, FLTFA has not been reauthorized and, therefore, the matter remains unimplemented. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Interior | To improve the implementation of the FLTFA mandate to raise funds to purchase inholdings, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of BLM to develop goals for land sales. |
Closed – Implemented
In response to our report, BLM stated that it would establish goals to offer Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA)-eligible property for sale. In its 60-day letter, BLM stated it would establish such goals by June 30, 2008. In a September 24, 2008 meeting with BLM officials, the BLM National Land Sales Manager said that BLM had established FLTFA land sale goals for FY2009 and FY2010 of $25 million each. To set these goals, the lead contacted each of the BLM state offices to determine the amount of eligible land sales that could be conducted in the final 2 years of FLTFA. The lead compiled this information and subsequently approved $19 million worth of land sales for FY2009.
|
| Department of the Interior | To improve the implementation of the FLTFA mandate to raise funds to purchase inholdings, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of BLM to develop a strategy for implementing these goals during the last 3 years of the program. |
Closed – Implemented
In response to our report, BLM stated that it would establish goals to offer Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA)-eligible property for sale and further stated that it would identify areas where market conditions create an opportunity to prepare and offer public land for sale; for example, areas with rapidly appreciating land values. In its 60-day letter, BLM concurred with our recommendation and planned to implement it by June 30, 2008. In a September 24, 2008 meeting, the BLM National Land Sales Manager said that BLM had created a "Sales Incentive Program" that provides seed money for planning and carrying out FLTFA-eligible land sales. Information on this new program was disseminated in an August 12, 2008 email to BLM state office FLTFA sale leads. A copy was provided to GAO. Also in response to our review, BLM created the National Sales Manager position only months before to coordinate the management of the BLM sales program under FLTFA.
|
| Department of Agriculture | To enhance the departments' compliance with the act, the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior should improve the procedure in place to identify and set priorities for acquiring inholdings. |
Closed – Not Implemented
USDA provided no formal comment to our report. In its 60-day letter, USDA stated that its Land Acquisition Prioritization System (LAPS), generally used for land acquisitions under the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), also satisfies the land acquisition prioritization requirements under FLTFA. Their letter further stated that the Forest Service will coordinate with BLM to formalize the use of a single process to prioritize land acquisitions and that the agency's current actions comply with our recommendation. During a subsequent meeting on November 5, 2008, the Forest Service FLTFA program lead emphasized that LAPS can be easily modified to use for FLTFA acquisitions, and that, therefore, there was no need to improve the procedure to identify and set priorities for inholdings. This is similar to what the BLM FLTFA program lead told us about their current LWCF prioritization system in a September 24, 2008 meeting. The BLM lead said that in response to our report, BLM had intensified its efforts to educate state-level FLTFA implementation teams. Specifically, the BLM lead said that the 10 FLTFA teams met the goal, each holding a team meeting by October 2009. The program lead further stated that he personally attended 7 of the 10 meetings, educating team members about the availability and use of FLTFA funds, and clarifying misperceptions about the use of those funds. For example, the BLM lead said that several teams were under the mistaken impression that the fund allocations set forth in the national MOU had to be strictly adhered to, but were notified that those allocations were a target only, and that each agency member should feel free to submit projects beyond their allocation as long as such nominations merited selection.
|
| Department of the Interior | To enhance the departments' compliance with the act, the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior should improve the procedure in place to identify and set priorities for acquiring inholdings. |
Closed – Not Implemented
In its response to our report, Interior stated that BLM will coordinate with the other signatories to the National MOU to formalize the use of a single process to prioritize land acquisitions. In its 60-day letter, Interior stated that it and USDA have long-standing, well-regarded processes and procedures in place to identify and prioritize land acquisition goals and specifically cited the system for Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) acquisitions. Interior agreed to continue to improve the procedures in place to identify and set priorities for acquiring inholdings and set an implementation date of September 30, 2008. In a September 24, 2008 meeting, the BLM FLTFA program lead said that the LWCF system for identifying and setting priorities for acquisitions works fine for FLTFA and that no changes had been made to this as a result of our recommendation. However, he added the implementation of FLTFA acquisitions, on the other hand, had not been going well. The BLM lead said that in response to our report, BLM had intensified its efforts to educate state-level FLTFA implementation teams. Specifically, the BLM lead said that the 10 FLTFA teams met the goal each holding a team meeting by October 2009. The program lead further stated that he personally attended 7 of the 10 meetings, educating team members about the availability and use of FLTFA funds, and clarifying misperceptions about the use of those funds. For example, the BLM lead said that several teams were under the mistaken impression that the fund allocations set forth in the national MOU had to be strictly adhered to, but were notified that those allocations were a target only, and that each agency member should feel free to submit projects beyond their allocation as long as such nominations merited selection. In a November 2, 2010 meeting, BLM officials reiterated their position that the LWCF system for identifying and setting priorities for acquisitions works fine for FLTFA and concluded that BLM did not plan to implement this recommendation. They added that they never thought the system needed to be improved and that any system needs to be flexible as land acquisitions are always very fluid transactions with willing sellers constantly shifting their positions.
|
| Department of the Interior | To enhance the departments' compliance with the act, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of BLM to establish a procedure to track the percentage of revenue spent on inholdings and on adjacent land. |
Closed – Implemented
In its response to our report, Interior agreed to implement our recommendation. Interior stated that BLM maintains data for all participating agencies on each specific parcel acquired using Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA) funds and BLM is directing field staff to note in an automated land status tracking system (LR2000) whether a parcel is an inholding or adjacent land. In its 60-day letter, Interior again concurred with the recommendation and stated that it gathers and maintains data on each transaction and tracks whether the parcel is an inholding or adjacent land. The letter further states that BLM will prepare a final report in compliance with the FLTFA at sunset. In a September 24, 2008 meeting, the BLM FLTFA program lead provided a copy of the system used to track FLTFA expenditures, that includes a column for inholding versus adjacent land. The BLM lead also confirmed that staff are now required to enter this information for all FLTFA acquisitions into LR2000.
|
| Department of the Interior | To fully implement the National Memorandum of Understanding, the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior should establish a procedure to track the fund allocations for land acquisitions by agency as provided in the memorandum of understanding. |
Closed – Implemented
In its response to our report, Interior stated that it would work with USDA to implement this recommendation. In its 60-day letter, Interior stated that this recommendation had been implemented. The letter further stated that BLM gathers data on each Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA) transaction by agency and that BLM will prepare a final report in compliance with the MOU at FLTFA's sunset. In a September 24, 2008 meeting, the BLM FLTFA program lead said that the FLTFA expenditure spreadsheet he maintains fulfills this recommendation, as it is broken down by agency and the percentage used by each can be easily derived. He again emphasized, however, that the allocations established in the MOU are goals only, and that, while the agencies will try to adhere to them, they ultimately are not held to those allocations.
|
| Department of Agriculture | To fully implement the National Memorandum of Understanding, the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior should establish a procedure to track the fund allocations for land acquisitions by agency as provided in the memorandum of understanding. |
Closed – Implemented
USDA provided no formal comment to our report. In its 60-day letter, USDA stated that "BLM is responsible under FLTFA for keeping track of the sales, proceeds, and disbursement of funds ..." Their letter further stated they would continue to assist BLM in tracking these funds. The Forest Service FLTFA program lead said the BLM lead regularly provides data on program revenue and expenditures. In a September 24, 2008 meeting, the BLM lead reported that, in response to our report, he modified his spreadsheet that tracks FLTFA expenditures to account for inholdings versus adjacent lands and provided a copy for our review. In addition, he said that field staff are now required to indicate whether a parcel is an inholding or an adjacent parcel in LR2000, BLM's central public land tracking system.
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