Forest Service

The Santini-Burton Act, enacted in 1980, authorized the sale of about 7,000 acres of federal lands within Clark County, Nevada, to allow more orderly development of the communities there. The federal lands were owned by the Bureau of Land Management. The act also required the bulk of the proceeds from the land sales to be used for a buyout program in which the government would purchase environmentally sensitive private lands around Lake Tahoe in an effort to stem further degradation of the lake. Concerns have been raised about whether property owners in the Lake Tahoe Basin have been treated fairly when the lands were acquired under the act. This report determines the extent to which (1) the Forest Service acquired lands within the basin under the act's buyout program, (2) the classification of lands within the basin as environmentally sensitive may have harmed their value, and (3) the Forest Service's acquisition of environmentally sensitive land in the basin may have involved the federal government taking private property under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

GAO found that: (1) under the act, the Forest Service has acquired almost 11,000 acres in the Lake Tahoe Basin and plans to acquire an additional 9,000 acres; (2) the Forest Service has spent about $86.5 million for land acquisitions and administrative expenses; (3) although the effect of environmentally sensitive classifications on land values cannot be quantified, land use restrictions have resulted in the reduction of fair-market values of some lands; (4) none of the Forest Service's acquisitions constitute a taking of private property by the federal government without just compensation; (5) the Forest Service has paid most property owners more than their original purchase price for the lands; and (6) property owners should expect further restrictions on the growth in the basin to protect the lake and its environs.