The U.S. Fish and 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, and 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 land protection policy is to acquire land only when other protective means (e.g., zoning or regulation to achieve program goals) are not appropriate, available or effective.
When lands are acquired, a minimum interest necessary to reach land protection andmanagement objectives is retained.
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, full consideration will be given 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 duties on arms and ammunition, and appropriations under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act.
CONDEMNATION POLICY
The Service, like all Federal agencies, has been given the power of eminent domain, which allows the use of condemnation to acquire lands and interests in lands for the public good. This power, however, is seldom used. The Service usually acquires lands from willing sellers and is not often compelled to buy specific habitats within a rigid time frame.
Service policy is to acquire land through condemnation only in order to:
| determine the legal owner (clear title), | |
| settle a difference of opinion of value (when the owner is agreeable to court action), or | |
| prevent uses which would cause irreparable damage to the resources for which the unit (refuge, etc,) was established to protect. |
IN ALL CASES, whether or not condemnation is necessary, the Service is required by law to 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).
FREQUENCY OF FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE CONDEMNATION ACTIONS
Condemnation has been used sparingly throughout the Service's 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 (1988-1997) less than 1 percent of the acquired acres were obtained though court action, which constituted only .02 percent of the ownerships (the table does not include "friendly condemnation" actions used to clear title or settle values).
ACQUISITIONS BETWEEN 1988 AND 1997
Total Purchased Condemnations Year Ownerships Acres Ownerships Acres
1988 700 142,536 1 15,058 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 - -
Total 5,980 5 1,711,778 1 15,058
Lands Under Service Control as of September 30, 1997
512 National Wildlife Refuges 198 Waterfowl Production Areas 50 Coordination Areas 3 Wildlife Research Areas 41 Administrative Sites 64 National Fish Hatcheries 6 Fishery Research Stations
Service Acreage as of September 30, 1997
Acres Purchased Fee 4,308,656 Agreement,Easement/Lease 3,323,141 Donation or Gift 649,263 Acquired by Other Federal Agency 2,501,848 Reserved from Public Domain 82,090,924 ____________ Grand Total of Service Acreage 92,873,832