Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) sent a letter to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack requesting information about federal agencies recent land acquisitions and stewardship of existing federal lands. The request for information was made as the Committee finalizes improvements to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Act.  

In the letter, Chairman Bishop said that reauthorizing LWCF, a law that is over 50 years old and has only been amended a few times, “without first examining its successes and addressing its failures, would be irresponsible.”

The letter stated, “[T]he Committee is concerned that land adjustment efforts, including conveyances and exchanges, are languishing while land management agencies are focusing almost solely on new acquisitions. Of particular concern is the vast acreage of checkerboard ownership across the nation, which is difficult to manage for federal agencies, states, private landowners, and counties alike.” 

“Currently the Federal government owns an amount of land equal to one third of the continental United States. The Committee is dedicated to making sure those federal lands are cared for and maintained in a way that meets the needs of the American public.”

The letter requests a list of all properties acquired by the federal government using LWCF funds over the past 50 years, identification of the most important areas which lack recreational access in resource management plans or forest plans, and the proportion of the federal estate under the Departments’ jurisdiction that is made up of non-contiguous blocks of federal land.

Chairman Bishop believes that the current funding structure favors the federal government’s land acquisition program at the expense of recreational access, which is the original intent of the law.

Under the original LWCF authorization in 1965, 60 percent of the funds in the program were specifically set aside for the Stateside Program. Last year, Stateside received just 16 percent of LWCF funds.

Click here to read the letter.

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