Summary
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the Department of the Interior (Interior) and the Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture (USDA) manage millions of acres of public land. To enhance land management and fulfill other public objectives, they acquire and dispose of land using exchanges--trading federal lands for lands owned by willing private entities, individuals, or state or local governments. GAO and others have raised concerns about whether the public interest has always been served in these land exchanges. GAO was asked to (1) analyze the number, trends, and characteristics of BLM and Forest Service land exchanges and (2) determine the effectiveness of agency actions to address previously identified key problems. GAO interviewed and surveyed agency officials, analyzed agency data on recent exchanges, and reviewed documents on a nongeneralizable sample of 31 land exchanges representing at least 85 percent of the acres that agencies acquired, or plan to acquire, during the time of GAO's review.
From October 2004 through June 2008, BLM and the Forest Service processed 250 completed, pending, or terminated land exchanges. Completion times for exchanges within this period varied widely, from 2 months to more than 12 years. These exchanges involved 628,429 federal acres and 621,588 nonfederal acres. According to agency officials, the number of exchanges since 2000 has generally declined because of the availability of qualified staff and funding and the lower priority given to land exchanges compared with other activities. Of the 250 land exchanges, 47 were facilitated by third parties, 9 were conducted in multiple phases, and 20 were specifically legislated by Congress. GAO, the agencies' inspectors general, and others identified problems in the agencies' land exchange programs and have made recommendations to correct them. The agencies have taken actions to address most of these problems, but the effectiveness of the actions has been mixed. Specifically: (1) According to most agency officials surveyed, headquarters reviews at least somewhat improved exchange quality; often ensured that exchanges complied with laws, regulations, and policies; and were processed properly. However, the reviews did not always document problems or indicate their resolution, making the process less transparent. (2) BLM stopped using interest-bearing accounts outside of the U.S. Treasury, according to agency officials, and issued new guidance on managing ledgers, which are used to track land value imbalances over time in multiphase exchanges. However, the agency is not always adhering to this guidance and, therefore, cannot fully know how much is owed. Specifically, BLM cannot be assured that the $2.6 million land value imbalance due to the United States, recorded in its ledgers as of June 30, 2008, is accurate. (3) Both agencies issued new guidance to require full disclosure of the relationship between a third-party facilitator and other parties to an exchange. But the guidance does not clearly define third-party facilitators and officials do not consistently apply the disclosure policy. Without consistent application, the agencies fail to obtain critical information and potentially risk losing the ability to control the exchange process. (4) The agencies updated their exchange guidance to provide clearer direction on exchanges and incorporated it into their training. However, staff generally are not required to attend this training, and the agencies do not systematically track staff participation. Therefore, the agencies cannot ensure that realty staff develop and maintain necessary skills. The agencies took steps to improve appraisal timeliness, but the process, particularly for BLM, continues to delay some exchanges, officials said. Neither agency has a national strategy to guide land transactions, nor does either track all costs of individual exchanges. Developing national strategies and tracking the costs of individual exchanges will enhance the agencies' ability to make informed decisions in pursuit of shared goals.
Recommendations
Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director:
Team:
Phone:
Robin M. Nazzaro
Government Accountability Office: Natural Resources and Environment
(202) 512-6246
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: In order to build on the improvements to the land exchange programs BLM and the Forest Service have made, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the heads of BLM and the Forest Service to strengthen the review process by assuring that key problems identified and their resolutions are systematically recorded.
Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Agency Affected: Department of the Interior
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: In order to build on the improvements to the land exchange programs BLM and the Forest Service have made, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the heads of BLM and the Forest Service to strengthen the review process by clarifying the retention policy for key exchange documents and ensuring staff follow the policy.
Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Agency Affected: Department of the Interior
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: In order to build on the improvements to the land exchange programs BLM and the Forest Service have made, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Chief of the Forest Service to improve the review process by making it a priority for the headquarters land exchange review team to review regional exchange programs and follow up on implementation of their recommendations.
Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: In order to build on the improvements to the land exchange programs BLM and the Forest Service have made, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Chief of the Forest Service to improve the review process by ensuring that the regions provide consistent oversight of land exchanges.
Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: In order to build on the improvements to the land exchange programs BLM and the Forest Service have made, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of BLM to better manage value imbalances in multiphase exchanges and protect federal funds by ensuring that BLM state offices document their decision and supporting rationale for whether and how to secure land exchange imbalances.
Agency Affected: Department of the Interior
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: In order to build on the improvements to the land exchange programs BLM and the Forest Service have made, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of BLM to better manage value imbalances in multiphase exchanges and protect federal funds by ensuring that an agreement to initiate (ATI) documents how the ledger will be used to process a multiphase exchange.
Agency Affected: Department of the Interior
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: In order to build on the improvements to the land exchange programs BLM and the Forest Service have made, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of BLM to better manage value imbalances in multiphase exchanges and protect federal funds by revising the standard format for ledgers prescribed in the exchange handbook to assure that each ledger clearly demonstrates that the ledger (1) is balanced at least every 3 years and (2) is either open or closed.
Agency Affected: Department of the Interior
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: In order to build on the improvements to the land exchange programs BLM and the Forest Service have made, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of BLM to better manage value imbalances in multiphase exchanges and protect federal funds by ensuring that offices prepare ledgers and follow the ledger format, including revisions cited above.
Agency Affected: Department of the Interior
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: In order to build on the improvements to the land exchange programs BLM and the Forest Service have made, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of BLM to better manage value imbalances in multiphase exchanges and protect federal funds by including ledgers in feasibility and decision reviews to ensure quality.
Agency Affected: Department of the Interior
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: In order to build on the improvements to the land exchange programs BLM and the Forest Service have made, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of BLM to better manage value imbalances in multiphase exchanges and protect federal funds by providing copies of ledger updates to agency headquarters for tracking of balances due to the United States.
Agency Affected: Department of the Interior
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: In order to build on the improvements to the land exchange programs BLM and the Forest Service have made, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the heads of BLM and the Forest Service to clarify the definition of a third-party facilitator, ensure that disclosure guidelines are consistently applied to all third-party facilitators, and include disclosure documentation in the review process.
Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Agency Affected: Department of the Interior
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: In order to build on the improvements to the land exchange programs BLM and the Forest Service have made, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the heads of BLM and the Forest Service to develop and issue national land tenure strategies for each agency and encourage the BLM state and Forest Service regional offices to develop their own plans to help guide land exchange decisions.
Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Agency Affected: Department of the Interior
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: In order to build on the improvements to the land exchange programs BLM and the Forest Service have made, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the heads of BLM and the Forest Service to track the agencies' costs of processing individual land exchanges.
Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Agency Affected: Department of the Interior
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: In order to build on the improvements to the land exchange programs BLM and the Forest Service have made, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the heads of BLM and the Forest Service to determine the elements of current training that should be mandatory to ensure that staff are able to process exchanges in conformance to agency guidance, create a formal system to track attendance at training, and determine how often training should be retaken.
Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Agency Affected: Department of the Interior
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: In order to build on the improvements to the land exchange programs BLM and the Forest Service have made, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the heads of BLM and the Forest Service to ensure that staff have completed this mandatory training before working on land exchanges.
Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Agency Affected: Department of the Interior
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
