New Rules for Protecting Land in the National Park System--Consistent Compliance Needed

摘要

In May 1982 the Department of the Interior implemented a policy that requires the National Park Service to prepare land protection plans. These plans both identify the land and degrees of title to that land needed by the federal government to protect the resource and designate cost-effective alternatives to full federal purchase, such as easements. GAO found that 25 of the 38 land protection plans it reviewed did not implement Interior policy or comply with National Park Service rules, with instances of noncompliance affecting 213,000 of the 823,000 nonfederal acres these 25 plans encompass.