Forest Service's program to identify unneeded land for potential sale is stalled

Technical Report · Tue Nov 06 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:5595253

In March 1983 the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service identified about 6 million acres of its 191 million acres for further study to determine if the land was needed or could be made available for sale. The Service was responding to the President's February 1982 Executive Order 12348 asking federal agencies to identify and sell real property no longer needed to meet agency objectives. Service officials believe that if the land is further studied, substantially less than the 6 million acres would be offered for sale. However, the Service has limited sale authority and has decided not to study the land further for potential sale until its sale authority is expanded. The Congress has stated in legislation that it does not intend to grant additional sale authority until the Service specifically identifies unneeded land. In a separate effort, the Service is developing land use management plans for each of its forests, but the Service's instructions for preparing the plans do not require the Service to review the 6 million acres identified for further study. GAO recommends that, to help resolve the impasse over direct sale authority, the Service modify its planning effort to review the need for the 6 million acres, develop a specific list of unneeded land, and submit the list to the Congress.

• Research Organization: General Accounting Office, Washington, DC (USA). Resources, Community and Economic Development Div.
• OSTI ID: 5595253
• Report Number(s): GAO/RCED-85-16; ON: TI85901758
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990000* -- General & Miscellaneous
LAND OWNERSHIP
LAND RESOURCES
LAND USE
MANAGEMENT
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OWNERSHIP
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
SALES
US DOA
US FOREST SERVICE
US GAO
US ORGANIZATIONS