United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-04-05 monographic deposited born digital 72 p. GA 1.13:RCED-00-84 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-84 P0b002ee1803865f9 f:rc00084 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-84 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-84 RCED-00-84 Environmental policies Federal aid to states Federal/state relations Financial management Procurement planning Cost sharing (finance) Water resources conservation Real property acquisition Land management South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Initiative Florida Everglades National Park (FL) Land and Water Conservation Fund Lake Okeechobee (FL) Florida Communities Trust Program Florida Greenways and Trails Acquisition Program Florida Conservation and Recreation Lands Program Letter Report RCED Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the importance of land acquisition to the success of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Initiative, focusing on: (1) what the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force did to identify and acquire lands needed to accomplish the goals of the initiative from 1996 through 1999; and (2) what the Department of the Interior did to help ensure that it maximized the acreage purchased--that is, bought as much land as possible, with $200 million in Farm Bill grants.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force has established ecosystem restoration goals and identified land acquisition as critical to achieving them, but it cannot acquire lands on its own; (2) instead, it must accomplish its objectives through the participating federal and state agencies; (3) this puts a premium on having a systematic acquisition plan and effective communication and coordination among the Task Force members; (4) however, the Task Force has not yet developed a land acquisition plan that identifies all of the lands needed to accomplish the goals of the restoration initiative--each federal and state agency has made independent acquisition decisions; (5) from fiscal year (FY) 1996 through FY 1999, these agencies acquired about 541,300 acres for the restoration initiative; (6) without a land acquisition plan, the Task Force cannot: (a) identify all the lands needed for the restoration initiative; (b) reasonably estimate the cost of land acquisition for the initiative; (c) measure progress in acquiring lands for the restoration; or (d) increase the chances that the lands being acquired are needed for the restoration initiative; (7) to maximize the acreage acquired with $200 million in Farm Bill grants, the Interior developed a cost-sharing policy that required the state of Florida to match the federal funds dollar for dollar; (8) under this policy, the Secretary of the Interior retained the authority to waive the matching requirement; (9) Interior approved four grants, one of which the state matched dollar for dollar; (10) for the other three grants, the Secretary waived the matching requirement or accepted lands in place of funds; (11) the state had already acquired, or was in the process of acquiring, these lands that it used for matching purposes; (12) had Interior consistently applied its cost-sharing policy, GAO calculates that an additional $77 million would have been available for land acquisition; and (13) according to Interior officials, the agency did not always apply its cost-sharing policy because it wanted to give the state credit for lands that it had already acquired or was in the process of acquiring. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-84/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-84.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-84/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-84.pdf GAO/RCED-00-84 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-84 Letter Report GAO/RCED-00-84; South Florida Ecosystem Restoration: A Land Acquisition; Environmental policies Federal aid to states Federal/state relations Financial management Procurement planning Cost sharing (finance) Water resources conservation Real property acquisition Land management South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Initiative Florida Everglades National Park (FL) Land and Water Conservation Fund Lake Okeechobee (FL) Florida Communities Trust Program Florida Greenways and Trails Acquisition Program Florida Conservation and Recreation Lands Program