Western Governors support reauthorization of Federal Lands Transfer Facilitation Act

The Western Governors' Association believes that the “checkerboard” land ownership pattern prevailing in much of the West is a major hindrance to effective and ecologically sound management of both federal and state lands.

There are three methods of resolving this land issue in the West: land exchanges under existing legislation, such as Federal Lands Policy and Management Act (FLPMA); the direct federal purchase of non-federal lands within federal management areas under Federal Lands Transfer Facilitation Act (FLTFA); and individual acts of congress.

A legislative hearing at 9 a.m. ET on Friday, (July 19) on public lands bills before the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation will include discussion of one of those methods. Specifically, H.R. 2068 would reauthorize FLTFA, which was passed in 2000 with a 10-year sunset. The act was reauthorized in 2010, but was not extended at the July, 2011, expiration.

The Governors support the reauthorization of FLTFA, which was sponsored by Rep. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming.To learn more, read our recently adopted policy policy on Federal-State Land Exchanges and Purchases.

To see all of the bipartisan policy resolutions -- including but not limited to Endangered Species Act, Wildland Fire Management, Energy & Transmission -- adopted by Western Governors at the 2013 Annual Meeting, visit our website.