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Website for Interdisciplinary
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| Land Management > | {level2} | {level3} |
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LAND EXCHANGE: |
Land Exchange
Land exchange is one strategy used by the U. S. government to move land between private and public ownership to achieve a more desirable land distribution for ecological, aesthetic, recreation and economic reasons. An advantage of land exchanges over outright purchase is that government funds do not need to be obtained. Instead, the parties in the land exchange attempt to swap land of equal appraised value. The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management are the federal agencies that conduct most public-private land exchanges. Private groups involved are usually real estate developers, mining interests and timber companies, as well as private citizens who own inholdings within public lands. The U.S. Forest Service and BLM have exchanged more than 1.5 million acres with private individuals and companies in the past five years. Land exchanges have been a primary mechanism of increasing public ownership of the Everglades National Park and the Mount Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument. However, land exchanges are becoming increasingly controversial because some environmental and public watchdog groups believe that the public has not received fair deal in the land exchanges and has lost environmentally sensitive lands. Case Study: The Plum Creek land exchange in Washington State illustrates the different dimensions involved in land exchange Links:
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