New Rules for Protecting Land in the National Park System--Consistent Compliance Needed

GAO reviewed the National Park Service's (NPS) compliance with a new Department of the Interior policy that requires the development of land protection plans to determine the need for acquired land so that the limited funds available are spent in the most cost-effective manner.

GAO noted that, in recent years, NPS has been acquiring fewer acres of land at increasing prices while appropriations for land acquisition have declined. GAO found that: (1) 25 of the 38 land protection plans it reviewed did not implement the policy or fully comply with NPS rules; (2) although the plans usually identified the minimum federal interests needed to protect the lands, they did not adequately justify the recommendation for a greater interest; (3) most plans did not provide for the disposition of potential excess land as required; and (4) other plans either recommended acquisition of lands already compatible with park usage or provided no justification for the recommended actions. GAO also found that: (1) NPS did not consistently follow rules when preparing the plans or reviewing the draft plans at headquarters; (2) headquarters did not perform required follow-up to determine if changes identified in the reviews had been made in the approved plans; (3) the plans reviewed did not consistently identify instances of noncompliance; (4) if NPS implements the plans' recommendations that do not comply with its rules, it could acquire more interest in land than it needs for resource protection, incur unnecessary acquisition costs, and deplete the limited funds available for land protection; and (5) NPS needs to correct plans that have already been approved and ensure that noncompliance is better detected and corrected to further minimize costs.

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