Wilderness Mineral Assessment Reports Could Be Improved To Better Meet Land Use Decisionmaking Needs

As part of the work which GAO has conducted over the past 2 years in examining a number of federal mineral land assessment programs, GAO explored aspects of the wilderness mineral assessment program conducted jointly by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Bureau of Mines for the Forest Service.

GAO found that these assessment reports are not as useful to Forest Service planners as they could be. While the primary purpose of the wilderness mineral surveys is to aid land use decisionmakers, the reports are often: (1) difficult to understand and to use; and (2) little more than raw data requiring lengthy interpretation. In addition, information necessary to place mineral data in perspective is missing. The surveys are fairly detailed and, depending on the size and complexity of the area studied, a single assessment may consume up to 3 years of research team time. Although the Forest Service is a principal user of the mineral assessments, it has had little input as to the format or the content of the assessment reports. These reports are highly technical and are intended to add to what is known about the nation's geology. Although the reports are supposed to be aimed at land use decisionmakers, USGS distributes the reports to state and local governments, oil and gas industries, and academia. Forest Service officials suggest that the reports could be far more useful for land use decisions if the data were directed toward land use managers. Forest Service managers need to know where the minerals are located, whether they are in demand, whether they might be economically mined, and how they would be transported. In addition, regularly scheduled briefings on these topics could be valuable. The Bureau routinely collects this information. GAO found that, despite Bureau intentions, few changes have been made in the assessment reports.

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: Michael Gryszkowiec Team: General Accounting Office: Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division Phone: (202) 275-7756