Section 31 Of Land Acquisition Act

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LASprosecutes condemnation proceedings on behalf of the United States. It also monitors and consults with responsible Assistant U.S. Attorneys on pre-trial, trial, and post-trial activities in eminent domain cases where responsibility has been delegated to a U.S. Attorney's Office by the Land Acquisition Section. Condemnation is used to acquire many different types of property interests.

LAS provides training and early consultation for client agencies during the planning process for major federal acquisition projects, which have included border security infrastructure, military training facilities, transmission line projects, expansion of national parks, forests and environmental buffer lands, veterans' facilities from hospitals to cemeteries, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and the General Services Administration leasehold portfolio.

(1) shall utilize the land acquisition and other authority under the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956, as amended, the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, as amended, and the Migratory Bird Conservation Act, as appropriate; and

The Department of the Interior (Department) invites Tribal Leaders to consult on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the Department's Land Acquisition regulations, 25 CFR Part 151, and the NPRM for the Department's Class III Tribal State Gaming Compact Process, 25 CFR Part 293.

Since the Department first promulgated these regulations in 1980, it has developed extensive experience in the fee-to-trust acquisition process. Relying on that experience and input from Tribes, this proposed rule seeks to make the fee-to-trust process more efficient, simpler, and less expensive to support restoration of Tribal homelands.

The Department is developing proposed updates to Part 293 to provide clear guidance regarding the Secretary's review and evaluation process for Tribal-State class III gaming compacts. The current regulations do not identify the factors the Department considers; rather, those factors are contained in a series of decision letters issued by the Department since the enactment of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988. Recent and ongoing litigation highlights the need for the Department to clarify how it will review or analyze gaming compacts to determine whether they comply with federal law.

The Department will conduct two virtual consultation sessions and one in-person consultation to obtain further Tribal input on the Part 151 NPRM and the Part 293 NPRM. The consultation sessions will be open to Tribal leadership and representatives of federally recognized Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Corporations. Please join us at one or more of the following consultations sessions.

A state funded grant program that provides financial assistance to commercial saltwater products or commercial saltwater wholesale dealers, retail license holders, or seafood houses for the development of working waterfronts through fixed or operating capital outlay projects.

The preservation of green space, including parks, open space, beaches and natural areas, is an important factor in creating livable communities. This state land acquisition grant program provides funding to local governments and eligible nonprofit environmental organizations for acquisition of community-based parks, open space and greenways that further outdoor recreation and natural resource protection needs identified in local government comprehensive plans.

Provides state funds for the acquisition of interests in land for the restoration and preservation of working waterfronts directly used for the purposes of commercial harvest of marine organisms or saltwater products by state-licensed commercial fishermen, aquaculturists, or business entities, including piers, wharves, docks, or other facilities operated to provide waterfront access to licensed commercial fishermen, aquaculturists, or business entities.

A competitive, state-funded grant program that provides financial assistance to local governments for the acquisition or development of land for public outdoor recreation. Eligible participants include all county governments, municipalities in Florida and other legally constituted local governmental entities with the responsibility for providing outdoor recreational sites and facilities for the general public.

This federal grant program, funded by the U. S. Department of the Interior's National Parks Service, provides for the acquisition or development of land for public outdoor recreation. The program works in partnership with federal, state and local efforts to protect land in our national parks, national wildlife refuges, national forests, national trails, and other public lands; to preserve working forests and ranchlands; to support state and local parks and playgrounds; to preserve battlefields and other historic and cultural sites; and to provide the tools that communities need to meet their diverse conservation and recreation needs.

Funded through the Land and Water Conservation Fund Program, this nationally competitive program grant program provides assistance to economically disadvantaged urban communities with no, or almost no, access to publicly available, close-by, outdoor recreation. These awards help underserved communities address outdoor recreation deficits by supporting projects in cities and densely populated urbanized areas that create new outdoor recreation spaces, reinvigorate existing parks, and form connections between people and the outdoors.

A federal grant program funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration that provides financial assistance for the development and maintenance of motorized and nonmotorized recreational trails, trailheads and trailside facilities. The program's mission is to advance the development of diverse, high quality trails and greenways through collaboration, education and financial assistance.

Florida's Sustainable Initiatives, the Florida Green Lodging Program and the Florida Green School Designation Program, are voluntary, non-regulatory designations that promote sustainability in businesses, schools, and homes to assist in protecting Florida's environment.

The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) [48 Stat. 984, 25 U.S.C. 5108 et seq. (June 18, 1934)] provides the Secretary of the Department of the Interior with the discretion to acquire trust title to land or interests in land for tribes. Congress may also authorize the Secretary to acquire title to particular land and interests in land into trust under statutes other than the IRA.

Review of the Fee-to-Trust applications requires BIA to consider the type of environmental analysis appropriate for the property and its intended use. Applications may receive review under a Categorical Exclusion, Environmental Assessment, or Environmental Impact Statement.

The Department plays a critical role in the fee to trust process as a means to restore and bolster self-determination and sovereignty in Indian country. The benefits to tribes are twofold. First, restoration of tribal land bases reconnects fractionated interests and provides protections for important tribal cultures, traditions, and histories. Second, the connectivity that occurs when land is placed into trust enables tribes to foster economic potential. From energy development to agriculture, trust acquisitions provide tribes the flexibility to negotiate leases, create business opportunities, and identify the best possible means to use and sell available natural resources.

The examples of successful fee to trust acquisitions, particularly on reservation, are extensive. For instance, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe's successfully brought into trust the Mustang Meadows Property, totaling 18,761.60 acres, on October 23, 2002. The land is now used for agricultural and farm pasture purposes and managed by the Tribe's Tribal Land Enterprise. The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony of Nevada (RSIC) was also extremely successful with its on-reservation Fee-to- Trust acquisition for economic development projects. RSIC now has several major car dealerships and a Wal-Mart Superstore on its lands in Reno and Sparks, Nevada. It also has a modern tribal health center on the land to provide services to its members and other urban Indians.

Interior believes the process of trust land acquisition for parcels identified on-reservation is an important and routine matter that results in the reconnection of critical land bases, thereby creating economic drivers for tribes. We note, however, that taking off-reservation lands into trust may pose complications for the Department as well as some members of the public, particularly when the Fee-to-Trust application is for gaming purposes, although the Department receives only a minor percentage of applications for gaming versus other applications.

Taking off-reservation land into trust can be further complicated by the prospect of Indian gaming. This matter, which I worked on during my previous tenure at the Department, continues to complicate and isolate some communities near these facilities. Such acquisitions also raise the possibility that a tribe may initiate gaming operations once the land is held in trust by the federal government, even though that was not in the original plan. If gaming is initiated once the land is held in trust by the federal government, it is regulated by the National Indian Gaming Commission under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Local communities that may have supported land into trust may not support gaming, and this could create an entirely new predicament for them as they would need to engage in a new public input process.

This possibility has prompted questions regarding what role the Department could play in establishing land use restrictions to halt certain lands from being used for gaming. It is our understanding that Interior generally lacks the authority to restrict the use of trust lands as this would be an infringement upon tribal sovereignty and self-government. Therefore, Congress will play a pivotal role in shaping the path the Department takes for approving future gaming decisions.

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