Federal Land Management: Federal Land Acquisitions in California Since
January 1994 (Letter Report, 08/30/2000, GAO/RCED-00-239).

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on land
acquired by federal agencies from January 1994 through April 2000 in
California for such purposes as restoring ecosystems and protecting
wildlife habitat, focusing on: (1) lands acquired through the CALFED
program since its inception in 1995 by federal agencies or by nonfederal
entities using federal funds; and (2) lands acquired outside the CALFED
program by federal agencies.

GAO noted that: (1) since the inception of the CALFED program in May
1995 through April 2000, federal agencies have acquired or are in the
process of acquiring full ownership or easements through the program on
about 16,300 acres in the Bay-Delta area in California; (2) about 11,700
acres involve full ownership by the Department of the Interior's Fish
and Wildlife Service--the remaining 4,600 acres involve easements being
acquired by Interior's Bureau of Land Management and the Department of
Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service; (3) in addition to
land acquisitions by federal agencies, nonfederal entities--including
state and local agencies and nonprofit organizations, such as the Nature
Conservancy--received federal funds through the CALFED program to
acquire about 6,500 acres; (4) outside of the CALFED program, federal
agencies also acquired about 404,000 acres in California from January
1994 through April 2000; (5) federal agencies acquired full ownership of
about 336,000 acres--about 257,000 acres are located in the southern
California desert and were acquired by the Bureau of Land Management,
and about 79,000 acres were scattered throughout the state and were
acquired by various agencies; and (6) easements were acquired on about
69,000 acres--mostly located in California's Central Valley--primarily
by the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Wetlands Reserve Program of the
Natural Resources Conservation Service.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  RCED-00-239
     TITLE:  Federal Land Management: Federal Land Acquisitions in
	     California Since January 1994
      DATE:  08/30/2000
   SUBJECT:  Real property acquisition
	     Wildlife conservation
	     Federal property management
	     Conservation
	     Federal/state relations
	     Land management
IDENTIFIER:  CALFED Program
	     California
	     USDA Wetlands Reserve Program

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GAO/RCED-00-239

Appendix I: Information on Land Acquisitions in California

14

Appendix II: Comments From CALFED

20

Appendix III: Comments From the Department of the Interior

21

Table 1: Funding, Acreage, Location, and Status of Federal
Agencies' Land Acquisition Projects Approved Through
the CALFED Program, May 1995 Through April 2000 14

Table 2: Funding, Acreage, Location, and Status of Nonfederal
Entities' Land Acquisition Projects Using Federal Funds
Through the CALFED Program, May 1995 Through April 2000 15

Table 3: Acreage Acquired in Full Ownership and With Easements by Federal
Agencies Outside of the CALFED Program, January
1994 Through April 2000 16

Table 4: Location, Acreage, and Cost of Land Acquired in Full
Ownership and With Easements by Federal Agencies Outside
of the CALFED Program, January 1994 Through April 2000 16

Table 5: Location, Acreage, and Projected Cost of Land Proposed to be
Acquired by Federal Agencies Outside of the CALFED
Program, as of May 1, 2000 18

Figure 1: Counties in Which Federal Agencies and Nonfederal
Entities Using Federal Funds Have Acquired or Are
Acquiring Land Through the CALFED Program, May 1995 Through April 2000 7

Figure 2: Land Acquired With Full Ownership by Federal
Agencies Outside of the CALFED Program, January 1994 Through April 2000 9

Figure 3: Easements Acquired by Federal Agencies Outside of the
CALFED Program, January 1994 Through April 2000 10

Resources, Community, and
Economic Development Division

B-285496

August 30, 2000

The Honorable Doug Ose
House of Representatives

Dear Mr. Ose:

In California, the federal government owns about 45 million acres of
national forests, national parks, wildlife refuges, military installations,
and other public lands--about 45 percent of the state's total land area.
About 90 percent of this federal land was established in the public domain
when Mexico ceded the area that became California to the United States in
1848; federal agencies have subsequently acquired the remainder. Agencies
acquire nonfederal land through various means--such as purchase, exchange,
and donation--and for a variety of purposes, including restoring ecosystems
and protecting wildlife habitat. In acquiring land, federal agencies may
obtain full ownership, which occurs when fee simple title to the land is
transferred from the nonfederal owner to the federal government, or they may
obtain a partial interest in the land--for example, by obtaining an easement
restricting the land's future development while the nonfederal landowner
retains title. Some of the federal land acquisitions were made as a part of
a joint federal-state program--called CALFED--that was created in 1995 to
protect the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, known as
the Bay-Delta area. The program's mission is to develop a long-term
comprehensive plan to restore the ecological health of and improve water
management in the Bay-Delta area, which supplies drinking water for more
than 22 million Californians and irrigation water for the state's
agricultural industry. In addition, as part of their ongoing acquisition
programs, federal agencies have made other land acquisitions outside of
CALFED.

You asked us to report information on land acquired by federal agencies from
January 1994 through April 2000 in California for such purposes as restoring
ecosystems and protecting wildlife habitat. Specifically, you asked us to
identify (1) lands acquired through the CALFED program since its inception
in 1995 by federal agencies or by nonfederal entities using federal funds
and (2) lands acquired outside the CALFED program by federal agencies. We
obtained data on federal land acquisitions in California from CALFED and
seven federal agencies that acquire land for these purposes: the Department
of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and
Wildlife Service, and National Park Service; the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service; and
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.1

Since the inception of the CALFED program in May 1995 through April 2000,
federal agencies have acquired or are in the process of acquiring full
ownership or easements through the program on about 16,300 acres in the
Bay-Delta area in California.2 About 11,700 acres involve full ownership by
the Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service; the remaining
4,600 acres involve easements being acquired by Interior's Bureau of Land
Management and the Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources
Conservation Service. In addition to land acquisitions by federal agencies,
nonfederal entities--including state and local agencies and nonprofit
organizations, such as The Nature Conservancy--received federal funds
through the CALFED program to acquire about 6,500 acres.

Outside of the CALFED program, federal agencies also acquired about 404,000
acres in California from January 1994 through April 2000. Federal agencies
acquired full ownership of about 336,000 acres: About 257,000 acres are
located in the southern California desert and were acquired by the Bureau of
Land Management, and about 79,000 acres are scattered throughout the state
and were acquired by various agencies. Easements were acquired on about
69,000 acres--mostly located in California's Central Valley--primarily by
the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Wetlands Reserve Program of the
Natural Resources Conservation Service.

CALFED is a consortium of state and federal agencies with management and
regulatory responsibilities in the Bay-Delta area in California. It was
established in 1995 to develop a long-term plan for restoring the ecological
health of and improving water management in the area. CALFED has identified
four major problem areas in this area: ecosystem health, water supply
reliability, levee system integrity, and water quality. To address these
problems, CALFED uses several resource management strategies, one of which
is its Ecosystem Restoration Program. Land acquisition by federal and state
agencies is one of the means used to meet this program's goals of improving
and increasing wildlife habitat and improving ecological functions in the
Bay-Delta area. CALFED solicits proposals for ecosystem restoration
projects, which are reviewed for their scientific and technical adequacy and
their applicability to its goals. The member agencies make funding
recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior and California's Secretary
for Resources, who decide which projects will receive federal and state
funding, respectively.

In November 1996, the California Bay-Delta Environmental Enhancement and
Water Security Act, known as the Bay-Delta Act, authorized the expenditure
of federal funds in fiscal years 1998 through 2000 for developing and
implementing the ecosystem restoration plan for the Bay-Delta area.3 These
funds are appropriated to the Department of the Interior's Bureau of
Reclamation, which distributes them to other federal agencies that
participate in CALFED. A small amount of funding is also provided through
the Environmental Protection Agency's Watershed Fund. Since 1998, CALFED's
Ecosystem Restoration Program has received $190 million in Bay-Delta Act
funds; $60 million was appropriated for fiscal year 2000.4 Some projects
approved for funding by CALFED may also be partly funded through the Central
Valley Project Restoration Fund, which is financed by donations and by
payments from water and power users.5 CALFED's Ecosystem Restoration Program
also receives state and local funding; in some cases, CALFED approves the
expenditure of nonfederal funds for federal agencies to acquire land.

Federal agencies also acquire land in California outside of the CALFED
program. These agencies--primarily the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau
of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the Forest
Service--acquire land for such purposes as improving land management,
protecting wildlife habitat, and preserving wetlands. For example, most of
the Bureau of Land Management's acquisitions in California were made
pursuant to the California Desert Protection Act of 1994,6 and the land will
be managed for its wilderness, wildlife habitat, and recreation values.

Funds for federal land acquisitions outside of the CALFED program come
primarily from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which was established
in 1964 to fund land acquisitions by various federal agencies and is
supported by several revenue sources, such as revenues from offshore oil and
gas leasing and user fees for outdoor recreation. Funds also come from other
sources, including the Central Valley Project Restoration Fund and the
Migratory Bird Conservation Fund;7 acquisitions of easements by the Wetlands
Reserve Program of the Natural Resources Conservation Service are funded
through the Commodity Credit Corporation.8

Since the inception of the CALFED program in May 1995 through April 2000,
federal agencies have acquired or are in the process of acquiring about
16,300 acres in California's Bay-Delta area as part of that program.
Although not all of the transactions have been completed, about 11,700 acres
involve full ownership, and the remaining 4,600 acres involve easements. In
addition to these federal acquisitions, nonfederal entities (including state
and local agencies and nonprofit organizations, such as The Nature
Conservancy) have received federal funds through the CALFED program to
acquire about 6,500 acres. Figure 1 shows the counties in which the
completed and ongoing land acquisitions by federal agencies and nonfederal
entities have occurred as part of the CALFED program. Appendix I provides
detailed information on the funding, acreage, location, and status of land
acquisitions by specific federal agencies and nonfederal entities through
the CALFED program (see tables 1 and 2).

Source: GAO's analysis of CALFED's data.

Outside of the CALFED program, federal agencies acquired about 404,000 acres
in California from January 1994 through April 2000: full ownership of about
336,000 acres and easements on about 69,000 acres. Of the acres acquired
with full ownership, about 257,000 acres, or 76 percent, were acquired by
the Bureau of Land Management and lie within three counties in the southern
California desert.9 The remaining acreage acquired with full
ownership--approximately 79,000 acres, or 24 percent--is scattered
throughout the state and was acquired by six agencies: the Bureau of Land
Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the
National Park Service, the Forest Service, and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers. Most of the acreage acquired under easements is located in
California's Central Valley, and virtually all of it was acquired by the
Fish and Wildlife Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Figures 2 and 3 show, by county, the distribution of acreage acquired by
federal agencies outside of the CALFED program (with full ownership and with
easements, respectively). Appendix I provides detailed information on the
acreage, the location, and the cost of land acquired by specific federal
agencies outside of the CALFED program (see tables 3 and 4).

Source: GAO's analysis of data provided by federal agencies.

Source: GAO's analysis of data provided by federal agencies.

In addition to the land already acquired, federal agencies have developed
proposals and/or requested funds (as of May 1, 2000) to acquire full
ownership of approximately 415,000 acres in California outside of the CALFED
program over the next several years. Almost 60 percent of this land--about
238,000 acres--is located in the desert in southern California.10 Appendix I
provides detailed information on the acreage, the location, and the
projected cost of the land that federal agencies propose to acquire in full
ownership (see table 5). In addition, the Natural Resources Conservation
Service plans to acquire easements on approximately 20,000 additional acres.

We provided CALFED, the Department of the Interior, the Department of
Agriculture, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with a draft of this
report for their review and comment. CALFED provided updated information and
additional details about the land acquisition projects funded through
CALFED, which we have incorporated as appropriate. CALFED's comments are
included in appendix II. The Department of the Interior generally agreed
with our report, but expressed concern that we had overstated the extent and
cost of acquisitions through the CALFED program because we did not
separately identify the acquisitions that are in process from those that are
complete. In response, we clarified that some federal acquisitions through
CALFED are not yet complete, and we added information about those projects
to appendix I. Interior also provided technical clarifications to the data,
which we incorporated as appropriate. Interior's comments are included in
appendix III. Neither the Department of Agriculture nor the Army Corps of
Engineers provided comments on the draft report.

To obtain data on federal land in California acquired through the CALFED
program, we contacted officials with CALFED's Ecosystem Restoration Program,
who provided information on CALFED's projects involving land acquisitions by
federal agencies or by nonfederal entities receiving federal funds.

To obtain data on federal land in California acquired outside the CALFED
program, we identified and contacted the seven federal agencies that acquire
land: the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of
Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service; the
Department of Agriculture's Forest Service and Natural Resources
Conservation Service; and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. While some data
were readily available, and we verified these data as best we could, other
data were not readily available, and we researched files on land acquisition
to obtain them. We conducted our review from March 2000 through July 2000 in
accordance with generally accepted auditing standards.

As requested, unless you publicly announce its contents earlier, we plan no
further distribution of this report until 30 days after the date of this
letter. At that time, we will send copies of this report to the Honorable
Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior; the Honorable Thomas Fry, Director
of the Bureau of Land Management; the Honorable Eluid Martinez, Commissioner
of the Bureau of Reclamation; the Honorable Jamie Rappaport Clark, Director
of the Fish and Wildlife Service; the Honorable Robert Stanton, Director of
the National Park Service; the Honorable Dan Glickman, Secretary of the
Department of Agriculture; the Honorable Mike Dombeck, Chief of the Forest
Service; the Honorable Pearlie S. Reed, Chief of the Natural Resources
Conservation Service; Major General Russell L. Fuhrman, Acting Commander of
the Army Corps of Engineers; and the Honorable Steven R. Ritchie, Acting
Executive Director of the CALFED Bay-Delta Program. We will also make copies
available to others on request.

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please call me at
202-512-3841. Key contributors to this report were John Cass, Jennifer
Duncan, John Furutani, and Sue Naiberk.

Sincerely yours,
Barry T. Hill
Associate Director, Energy, Resources,
and Science Issues

Information on Land Acquisitions in California

                            Acreage
                Project
 Agency and     funding     Full                              Status of
 project        approved    ownership   Easement  Counties    acquisition
                through
                CALFEDa
 Bureau of Land
 Management
 Riparian                                         Shasta,
 Corridor       $2,240,250  0           1,411     Tehama      In process
 Fish and
 Wildlife
 Service
 Liberty                                          Solano,
 Islandb        $8,926,000  4,760       0         Yolo        Complete

 Liberty Island 2,701,735   449         0         Solano,     Funding
                                                  Yolo        approved
                                                  Butte,
                                                  Colusa,
 Sacramento                                       Glenn,
 Riverc         780,000     200         0         Shasta,     Complete
                                                  Sutter,
                                                  Tehama,
                                                  Yolo
                                                  Butte,
                                                  Colusa,
 Sacramento                                       Glenn,
 Riverd         6,051,413   1,303       0         Shasta,     Complete
                                                  Sutter,
                                                  Tehama,
                                                  Yolo
 San Joaquin
 River National
 Wildlife       10,647,000  4,205       1,964     Stanislaus  In process
 Refuge
 San Luis
 National
 Wildlife       1,100,000   230         0         Stanislaus  In process
 Refuge
 Stone Lakes
 National
 Wildlife       2,400,000   537         0         Sacramento  Complete
 Refugee
 Natural
 Resources
 Conservation
 Service
 Floodplain
 Easementsf     $1,545,000  0           1,200     Stanislaus  In process
 Total          $36,391,398 11,684      4,575

aCALFED-approved funding may be from federal, state, or local sources.
Projects may also receive funding from other sources, such as the Central
Valley Project Restoration Fund.

bAccording to the Department of the Interior, the funding for this
acquisition was transferred to the Trust for Public Lands under a
reimbursable agreement, and ownership of the land may be transferred to the
Fish and Wildlife Service in the future.

cFunded through CALFED with state funds; the Fish and Wildlife Service and
The Nature Conservancy are joint applicants for funding for this project.

dFunded through CALFED with state funds; the California Department of Fish
and Game's Wildlife Conservation Board, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and
The Nature Conservancy are joint applicants for this project. Funding and
acreage shown are for the Fish and Wildlife Service's portion of this
acquisition.

eAccording to the Department of the Interior, the funding for this
acquisition was transferred to the American Land Conservancy under a
reimbursable agreement, and ownership of the land will be transferred to the
Fish and Wildlife Service within 5 years.

fFloodplain easements are used in areas with histories of flood damage;
instead of repairing levies damaged by flooding, the Natural Resources
Conservation Service obtains easements on land along the river and allows
the river to meander and flood as it would have if levies had not been built
along its banks.

Source: GAO's analysis of data provided by CALFED's Ecosystem Restoration
Program.

                                   Project
 Nonfederal                        funding
 party        Project              approved    Acreage  Counties   Status
                                   through
                                   CALFED
 Butte Creek
 Watershed    Butte Creek          $125,000a   146      Butte      Complete
 Conservancy  Acquisition
 California
 Department ofFern-Headreach and   425,000     168      San        Complete
 Fish and GameShaded River                              Joaquin
 City of      South Napa River
 American     Tidal Slough and     1,490,000   460      Napa       In
 Canyon       Floodplain                                           process
 East
 Stanislaus
 Resource
 Conservation Grayson River Ranch  26,250      140      Stanislaus Complete
 District and Perpetual Easement
 Friends of
 the Tuolumne
 Marin Audubon                                                     In
 Society      Petaluma Marsh       352,135     181      Marin      process
 Napa County                                                       In
 Land Trust   Napa River Wetlands  1,073,513   68       Napa       process
              South Napa River
 Napa County  Wetlands Acquisition                                 In
 Land Trust   and Restoration      431,000     42       Napa       process
              Program
 The Nature
 Conservancy  Cosumnes Floodplain  3,500,000   2,247    Sacramento Complete
 The Nature                                                        In
 Conservancy  Cosumnes River       750,000     300b     Sacramento process
 The Nature                                                        In
 Conservancy  Deer and Mill Creeks 1,000,000   750b     Tehama     process
 The Nature   McCormack-Williamson
 Conservancy  Tract                5,356,000   1,655    Sacramento Complete
                                                        Butte,
                                                        Colusa,
 The Nature   Sacramento River                          Glenn,     In
 Conservancyc Floodplain           1,000,000   300b     Shasta,    process
                                                        Sutter,
                                                        Tehama,
                                                        Yolo
 Total                             $15,528,898 6,457

aAmount shown is cost of acquisition as provided by the Department of the
Interior; total project cost is $547,000.

bFor these projects, the specific parcels and acreages are still in
negotiation. To date, no land has been purchased with funding through the
CALFED program.

cThe Nature Conservancy, the California Department of Fish and Game's
Wildlife Conservation Board, and others are applicants for this funding.

Source: GAO's analysis of data provided by CALFED's Ecosystem Restoration
Program.

 Agency                   Acreage in full   Acreage with       Total
                          ownership         easementsa         acreage
 U.S. Army Corps of
 Engineers                1,630             0                  1,630
 Bureau of Land
 Management               271,727           32                 271,759
 Bureau of Reclamation    6,784b            0                  6,784
 Fish and Wildlife
 Service                  19,444            30,792             50,236
 Forest Service           8,018             0                  8,018
 National Park Service    27,989            0                  27,989
 Natural Resources
 Conservation Service     0                 37,692             37,692
 Total                    335,592           68,516             404,108

aAcreage with federally owned easements remains in private ownership.

bThree tracts acquired by the Bureau of Reclamation, totaling 3,883 acres,
are managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

Source: GAO's analysis of data provided by federal agencies.

(Continued From Previous Page)

                     Full ownership            Easementa
 Counties            Acreage  Costb            Acreage Costb
 Alameda             108      $7,500,000       0       0
 Alpine              962      0                0       0
 Butte               327      1,594,800        3,427   $4,373,975
 Colusa              932      1,579,231        5,053   8,211,364
 Colusa/Lake         948      332,052          0       0
 Contra Costa        1        200,000          493     985,200
 El Dorado           225      654,600          0       0
 Fresno              1,647    2,888,400        2,816   5,428,200
 Glenn               1,767    5,601,354        864     1,155,640
 Humboldt            5,210    3,301,250        5       0
 Imperial            4,110    396,235          0       0
 Inyo                102      107,000          0       0
 Inyo/San Bernardino 1,080    0                0       0
 Kern                1,655    1,271,016        93      186,000
 Kings               1,068    576,450          0       0
                     Full ownership            Easementa
 Counties            Acreage  Costb            Acreage Costb
 Kings/Tulare        1,237    2,655,134        0       0
 Lassen              245      219,000          0.1     200
 Los Angeles         1,225    12,187,300       0       0
 Marin               734      6,753,000        0       0
 Merced              3,075    4,417,074        24,900  16,615,757
 Modoc               637      150,000          3,759   2,780,653
 Mono                7        2,500            0       0
 Monterey            2,091    5,168,000        0       0
 Placer              241      716,225          33      45,344
 Riverside           34,310   15,610,063       3       1,000
 Sacramento          1,351    5,291,136        8,008   6,904,840
 San Bernardino      235,339  37,310,606       0       0
 San Diego           10,294   22,435,960       0       0
 San Francisco       1,837    750,000          0       0
 San Joaquin         35       176,900          749     1,388,755
 San Luis Obispo     3,687    810,850          175     227,000
 San Mateo           2,095    17,000,000       0       0
 Santa Barbara       6,291    10,800           0       0
 Santa Clara         7        0                0       0
 Santa Cruz          38       415,000          5       0
 Shasta              112      37,500           466     533,082
 Siskiyou            280      0                2,358   1,014,990
 Solano              1,254    2,823,000        0       0
 Solano/Yolo         1,630    2,110,000        0       0
 Stanislaus          2,440    11,707,565       2,163   3,108,468
 Sutter              0        0                517     794,120
 Tehama              527      392,132          2,947   1,432,187
 Tulare              1,981    1,653,679        4,128   4,661,305
 Ventura             419      2,991,500        0       0
 Yolo                2,032    762,000          5,299   8,008,430
 Yuba                0        0                258     387,880
 Total               335,592  $180,559,312     68,516  $68,244,390

aAcreage with federally owned easements remains in private ownership.

bCost shown includes nonappropriated federal funds--such as Migratory Bird
Conservation funds and Commodity Credit Corporation funds--and such
nonfederal funds as state and local grants. Land that is shown with zero
cost was donated to the federal government.

Source: GAO's analysis of data provided by federal agencies.

 Counties                              Acreage  Projected cost
 Calaveras                             62       $11,000
 Contra Costa                          10       96,900
 El Dorado, Placera                    5,050    37,500,000
 Fresno                                5,353    13,826,800
 Glenn                                 70       202,500
 Kern, San Luis Obispob                95,000   21,754,000
 Kings, Tulare                         3,492    8,892,900
 Los Angeles                           330      4,356,400
 Merced                                3,483    2,158,200
 Montereyc                             3,554    32,500,000
 Riversided                            12,391   45,513,000
 San Benito                            1,967    2,000,000
 San Bernardinoe                       237,000  18,000,000
 San Bernardino, Riversidef            900      5,000,000
 San Diegog                            9,197    25,350,000
 Shasta, Tehamah                       10,342   15,984,000
 Siskiyou                              194      1,800,000
 Sutter                                800      3,900,000
 Tulare                                626      640,000
 Ventura                               26       521,000
 Not specified--California wildernessi 25,144   51,000,000
 Total                                 414,991  $291,006,700

aThe Forest Service's planned acquisitions of land in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

bThe Bureau of Land Management's planned acquisitions of land in the Carrizo
Plain Natural Area; amounts include projections over 10 years.

cThe Forest Service's planned acquisitions of land in the Big Sur Ecosystem;
amounts include fiscal year 2000 request and projected future needs.

dThe Bureau of Land Management's planned acquisitions of land in two areas;
amounts include projections over 10 years.

eThe Bureau of Land Management's and the National Park Service's planned
acquisitions of land under the California Desert Protection Act of 1994.
This is a portion of a partially completed acquisition that will total
437,000 acres. According to agency officials, the agencies acquired about
181,000 acres of this land through purchase and donation in late July 2000.

fThe Forest Service's planned acquisitions of land in the San Bernardino
Ecosystem.

gIncludes the Fish and Wildlife Service's planned acquisitions of land for
fiscal years 2000 and 2001 and the Bureau of Land Management's projections
over 10 years.

hThe Bureau of Land Management's planned acquisitions of land along the
Sacramento River and two of its tributaries; amounts include projections
over 10 years.

iThe Forest Service's planned acquisitions of nonfederal land within the
boundaries of wilderness areas in California.

Source: GAO's analysis of data provided by federal agencies or of budget
justifications for fiscal years 2000 and 2001, which--for the Bureau of Land
Management--include projections over 10 years.

Comments From CALFED

Comments From the Department of the Interior

(141434)

Table 1: Funding, Acreage, Location, and Status of Federal
Agencies' Land Acquisition Projects Approved Through
the CALFED Program, May 1995 Through April 2000 14

Table 2: Funding, Acreage, Location, and Status of Nonfederal
Entities' Land Acquisition Projects Using Federal Funds
Through the CALFED Program, May 1995 Through April 2000 15

Table 3: Acreage Acquired in Full Ownership and With Easements by Federal
Agencies Outside of the CALFED Program, January
1994 Through April 2000 16

Table 4: Location, Acreage, and Cost of Land Acquired in Full
Ownership and With Easements by Federal Agencies Outside
of the CALFED Program, January 1994 Through April 2000 16

Table 5: Location, Acreage, and Projected Cost of Land Proposed to be
Acquired by Federal Agencies Outside of the CALFED
Program, as of May 1, 2000 18

Figure 1: Counties in Which Federal Agencies and Nonfederal
Entities Using Federal Funds Have Acquired or Are
Acquiring Land Through the CALFED Program, May 1995 Through April 2000 7

Figure 2: Land Acquired With Full Ownership by Federal
Agencies Outside of the CALFED Program, January 1994 Through April 2000 9

Figure 3: Easements Acquired by Federal Agencies Outside of the
CALFED Program, January 1994 Through April 2000 10
  

1. The Army Corps of Engineers acquired land for environmental mitigation
associated with a flood control project. We did not include information on
other Department of Defense agencies because we focused on agencies that
acquire land for such purposes as ecosystem restoration or wildlife habitat.

2. This includes land acquisition projects that are under way and projects
for which CALFED funding has been approved.

3. P.L. 104-208, Division E, title I, Sept. 30, 1996. These provisions were
also enacted in P.L. 104-333, Division I, title XI, Nov. 12, 1996.

4. P.L. 106-60, title II, Sept. 29, 1999.

5. This fund was established by the Central Valley Project Improvement Act
(P.L. 102-575, title XXXIV of the Reclamation Projects Authorization and
Adjustment Act of 1992, Oct. 30, 1992).

6. P.L. 103-433, Oct. 31, 1994.

7. The Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 1929 authorized the acquisition of
land and water to protect migratory birds. The migratory bird fund was
established in 1934 by the Migratory Bird Hunting and Stamp Act and is
supported by revenues from a number of sources, such as entrance fees to
national wildlife refuges.

8. As provided by the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996
(Apr. 4, 1996), which amended the Food Security Act of 1985.

9. The Bureau of Land Management acquired 225,000 of these acres pursuant to
the California Desert Protection Act of 1994.

10. According to agency officials, these lands include acreage designated
for acquisition under the California Desert Protection Act of 1994. In July
2000, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service acquired
about 181,000 of these acres through purchase and donation.
*** End of document. ***