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Show CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Disposal, Acquisition, and Exchanges IN THE INDIVIDUAL commodity chapters of this report, we recommended the general guidelines for determining which public lands should be disposed of and which should be retained and managed under Federal ownership. In this chapter, we treat with the important tools and principles that apply to transfers of land out of Federal ownership, as well as with the general purposes and techniques which should govern the acquisition of privately owned lands in implementing public land programs. In addition, we treat independently with the land exchanges and appraisals, which are important aspects of both disposal and acquisition. Disposal Techniques Applicant Qualifications Recommendation 114: Statutory eligibility qualifications of applicants for public lands subject to disposal should generally avoid artificial restraints and promote maximum competition for such lands. Preferences for certain classes of applicants should be used sparingly. To implement this general principle and to promote the optimum allocation of public lands to their highest and best use, we recommend the elimination of restrictive qualifications or preferences which bar applicants because of their corporate nature, the size of their aggregate landholdings, or their previous purchases of public lands. There are two broad exceptions to this recommended general policy. First, we would accord a preference in the sale of public land to those users who are dependent upon the land that is being disposed. Thus, for example, we recommend a preference in the sale of grazing lands to those permittees who own base properties which are dependent on such lands. Second, in cases of competing applicants, we favor a statutory preference for state and local governmental units or nonprofit entities. Congressional Review of Large Disposals Recommendation 115: Disposals in excess of a specified dollar or acreage amount should require congressional authorization. We recommend that Congress specifically authorize large-scale or high-value disposals, not because of our lack of confidence in Federal administrators in such situations, but because the magnitude of the disposal indicates that its impacts on the environment, regional economies, existing uses, etc., may be so substantial as to make legislative consideration appropriate. Congress should spell out the disposal acreage and dollar amounts above which its specific approval is to be obtained. This comports with our recommendation in Chapter Three that large-scale withdrawals also receive congressional approval.1 Antispeculation Restrictions Recommendation 116: Where land is disposed of at less than fair-market value, or where it is desired to assure that lands be used for the purpose disposed of for a limited period to avoid undue speculation, transfers should provide for a possibility of reverter, 1 Recommendation 8. 265 |
