U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
AProfile of Land
Protection Actions
By the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service 1999
Land Protection Policy for the
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
acquires lands and/or interests in
lands, such as easements or leases,
consistent with legislation or
other Congressional guidelines
and Executive Orders for the
conservation of fish, wildlife, plants,
and their habitats and to provide
wildlife-dependent public use for
educational and recreational
purposes. These lands include
national wildlife refuges, national
fish hatcheries, research facilities
and other areas.
The Service’s land protection policy
is to acquire land only when other
means of protection (e.g., zoning or
regulation to achieve program goals)
are not appropriate, available, or
effective.
The Service acquires the minimum
interest necessary to reach land
protection and management
objectives. For example when the
Service must acquire land, it acquires
fee title (control of all property
rights) only if control of lesser
property interests through easements
or leases will not achieve land
protection objectives.
If fee title is required, the Service will
give full consideration to granting
extended use reservations, entering
into exchanges, or using other
alternatives that will lessen the
impact on the owner and the
community.
Funding for acquisitions comes from
receipts, such as Federal Duck Stamp
sales, entrance fees to certain
national wildlife refuges, import
taxes on arms and ammunition, and
appropriations under the Land and
Water Conservation Fund Act.
Frequency of U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service Condemnation Actions
The Service has used condemnations
sparingly throughout its land
acquisition history. The Service
recognizes the possible social and
economic impacts of acquiring private
property by exercising the right of
eminent domain and does its utmost
to avoid using this approach.
In recent years this has become
increasingly true as greater emphasis
has been placed on the willing seller
policy. The following table shows that
over the past ten years (1989-1998)
the Service has not acquired any
acres through court action, (the
table does not include “friendly
condemnation” actions used to clear
title or settle values).
Condemnation Policy
The Service, like all Federal agencies,
has been given the power of eminent
domain, that allows the use of
condemnation to acquire lands and
interest in lands for the public good.
The Service, however, seldom uses
this power. The Service usually
acquires lands from willing sellers
and is rarely compelled to buy
specific habitats within a short
period of time.
Service policy is to acquire land
through condemnation only in
order to:
n determine the legal owner
(clear title),
n settle a difference of opinion of
value (when the owner is agreeable to
court action), or
n prevent uses which would cause
irreparable damage to the resources
that the unit (refuge, etc.) was
established to protect.
In all cases, whether or not
condemnation is necessary, law
requires that the Service will offer
not less than fair market value as
determined by an approved appraisal,
using professional standards and
Federal requirements, i.e., 1992
Uniform Appraisal Standards for
Federal Land Acquisitions, Uniform
Relocation Assistance and Real
Property Acquisitions Policies
Act (P.L. 91-646), and Financial
Institutions Reform, Recovery and
Enforcement Act of 1989 (P.L. 101-73).
Units Under Service Control as of September 30, 1998
National Wildlife Refuges 516
Waterfowl Production Area Counties 199
Coordination Areas 50
Wildlife Research Areas 3
Administrative Sites 43
National Fish Hatcheries 67
Service Acreage as of September 30, 1998
Acres Purchased, Fee 4,417,743
Acres Purchased, Agreement, Easement Lease 3,431,463
Donation or Gift 652,129
Acquired by Other Fed. Agency 2,718,147
Reserved from Public Domain 82,092,801
Grand Total of Service Acreage 93,312,283
Acquisitions Between 1989 and 1998
Total Purchased Condemnations
Year Ownerships Acres Ownerships Acres
1989 613 132,389
1990 605 213,318
1991 727 230,512
1992 835 147,592
1993 588 128,934
1994 308 87,718
1995 734 232,882
1996 639 241,000
1997 231 154,897
1998 587 182,239
Total 5,867 1,751,481 0 0
U.S Department of the Interior
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Division of Realty
Washington, DC 20240
http://www.fws.gov/r9realty
