The Bureau of Reclamation Could Identify More Unneeded Land

Gao ID: RCED-85-25 April 12, 1985

GAO reported on the Bureau of Reclamation's process for identifying unused, underused, and unneeded land.

GAO identified about 1.8 million acres of unneeded land for project purposes. This occurred primarily because the Bureau's annual property reviews did not include detailed reviews of specific parcels of land, and it had not completed reviewing the need for all public domain land under its jurisdiction. Recognizing the need to improve its land management program, the Bureau has been implementing a land-use inventory and automated real property asset management system. This could help the Bureau develop a comprehensive and accurate inventory of land no longer needed for project purposes. GAO noted that, since proceeds from the sale of unneeded land are used to reduce the financial obligations of irrigation districts, three such districts could receive reductions in their repayment obligations of about $39 million if 73,000 acres of unneeded land are sold.

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: James Duffus Iii Team: General Accounting Office: Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division Phone: (202) 512-7756


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