Public Land Acquisition and Alternatives Regarding Adjacent Lands and Intermingled Ownership Problems

Problems with intermingled land ownership result if a private landowner in a national area attempts to use his land to conduct certain activities which are incompatible with Federal agency land management objectives. GAO believes that the existing problems result from Federal agency land acquisition practices, rather than from private landowners' activities which are incompatible with Federal management objectives. Federal agencies have not clearly defined which land uses are incompatible with the purposes of a national area. GAO has taken the position that a Federal role is necessary to assure that nationally significant areas are protected and preserved, but the role does not have to be one of blanket ownership in all areas administered by the land management agencies. These agencies have believed that the existence of privately owned land within a Federal enclave is incompatible with Federal land management objectives and that, unless specifically prohibited by Congress, their mandate was to acquire all privately owned land within the Federal enclave. Alternatives to full-title acquisition are feasible and need to be used by Federal agencies where appropriate. However, GAO can find no plausible reason why everything must be federally owned. Many private landowners in national areas believe that their presence is compatible with the purposes of the area. The solution to reducing the tension between private landowners and Federal agencies requires Federal agencies to determine which properties are compatible with the purposes of national areas and not subject to acquisition and to include this information in land acquisition plans. GAO believes that interpretation of congressional intent regarding Federal land acquisition needs to be resolved in favor of not acquiring land unless Congress specifically directs otherwise. Additionally, Federal agencies need to recognize that their primary objective is to protect, preserve, and maintain the land, not necessarily to acquire and accumulate land.