Land Tenure Adjustment

Objectives

Make land tenure adjustments to benefit a variety of uses and values. Emphasize opportunities that conserve biological diversity or enhance timber management opportunities. As a matter of practice, Oregon and California forest lands allocated to timber management will only be exchanged for lands to be managed for multiple-use purposes.

Meet the following objectives for the three land tenure adjustment zones:

Zone 1: generally, retain these lands under BLM administration.
Zone 2: block up areas in zone 2 with significant resource values and exchange other lands in zone 2 to block up areas in zones 1 and 2 with significant resource values.
Zone 3: retain lands with unique resource values; dispose of other lands in this zone using appropriate disposal mechanisms.

Make BLM-administered lands in zones 1, 2, and 3 available for a variety of uses as authorized by section 302 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the Recreation and Public Purposes Act, and special recreation permits.

Manage newly acquired lands for the purpose for which they are acquired or consistent with the management objectives for adjacent BLM-administered lands. If lands with unique or fragile resource values are acquired, protect those values until the next plan revision.

Eliminate unauthorized use of BLM-administered lands.

Land Use Allocations

Zone		Approx. BLM Acres
1		160,200
2		228,000
3		9,900

See map 10 for location of land tenure zones and appendix G for legal descriptions of zone 3 tracts.

Management Actions/Direction —

Riparian Reserves

Use land acquisition, exchange, and conservation easements to meet Aquatic Conservation Strategy objectives and facilitate restoration of fish stocks and others species at risk of extinction.

Management Actions/Direction —

Late-Successional Reserves

Consider land exchanges when they will provide benefits equal to or better than current conditions.

Consider land exchanges especially to improve area, distribution, and quality (e.g., connectivity, shape, and contribution to biological diversity) of Late-Successional Reserves and where public and private lands are intermingled.

Management Actions/Direction —

All Land Use Allocations

Use the land tenure adjustment criteria listed in appendix H when analyzing site-specific proposals to acquire or dispose of land.

Use the following three-zone concept to guide selection of lands for exchange, sale, transfer, or acquisition:

Zone 1: Includes lands and other areas identified as having high public resource values. The natural resource values may require protection by federal law, executive order or policy. These lands may have other values or natural systems which merit long-term public ownership. They do not meet the criteria for sale under Federal Land Policy and Management Act section 203(a) and will generally be retained in public ownership.

The primary mode of land acquisition in zone 1 will be through exchange of BLM-administered lands in zones 2 and 3. Purchases and donations will be pursued if exchange is not feasible.
Zone 2: Includes lands that meet criteria for exchange because they form discontinuous ownership patterns, are relatively inefficient to manage, and may not be accessible to the general public. These BLM-administered lands may be blocked up in exchange for other lands in zones 1 or 2, transferred to other public agencies, or given some form of cooperative management. These lands will not be sold under section 203(a) unless the resource management plan is amended.
Zone 3: Includes lands that are scattered and isolated with no known unique resource values. Zone 3 lands will be available for use in exchanges for inholdings in zone 1 (high priority) or zone 2 (moderate priority). They are also potentially suitable for disposal through sale under Federal Land Policy and Management Act section 203(a). This will occur only if important recreation, wildlife, watershed, threatened or endangered species habitat and/or cultural values are not identified during disposal clearance reviews and no viable exchange proposals for them can be identified. Zone 3 lands will also be available for conveyance to another federal, state or local agency, as needed to accommodate community expansion and other public purposes. Transfer to another federal agency to fulfill a specific management objective will also be permitted in zone 3.

Prior to all land tenure adjustments, consider the effect on the mineral estate. If the lands are not known to have mineral potential, then the mineral interest will normally be transferred simultaneously with the surface interest.

Consider conveying the subsurface mineral interest held by the United States to the existing or proposed owner of the surface estate.

Make exchanges to enhance public resource values and/or improve land patterns and management efficiency of private and BLM-administered lands within the planning area.

Consult with county governments prior to any exchange involving Oregon and California lands.

Minimize impact on local tax base by emphasizing exchanges rather than fee purchase.

Sell BLM-administered lands under the authority of Federal Land Policy and Management Act section 203(a), which requires that at least one of the following conditions exists before land is offered for sale:

The tract, because of its location or other characteristics, is difficult or uneconomical to manage as part of BLM-administered lands and is not suitable for management by another federal department or agency.
The tract was acquired for a specific purpose and is no longer required for any federal purpose.
Disposal of the tract would serve important BLM objectives. These include but are not limited to:
- expansion of communities and economic development, which cannot be achieved prudently or feasibly on land other than BLM-administered lands and which outweigh other public objectives; and
- values, including, but not limited to, recreation and scenic values, which would be served by maintaining such tract in federal ownership.
Transfer land to other public agencies where consistent with public land management policy and where improved management efficiency will result. Minor adjustments involving sales or exchanges may be made based on site-specific application of the land ownership adjustment criteria.

Acquire land through exchange if at least one of the following objectives is met:

access to public lands and resources would be improved;
important public values and uses would be maintained or enhanced;
local social and economic values would be maintained or enhanced; and
other aspects of the approved resource management plan would be implemented.