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Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management operates under a wide variety of regulations, court decisions, laws and policies. A comprehensive list of legislation applying to BLM-managed lands is available through the BLM's website.

The Bureau of Land Management also provides links to


 * selected legislative acts,
 * regulations applying to BLM-managed land,
 * Federal Register notices,
 * manuals and handbooks,
 * administrative decisions,
 * Public Land Orders,
 * Instruction Memoranda and Informational Bulletins

on their resources page.

Disposal
The Bureau of Land Management has three methods of sale:
 * modified competitive bidding, with preference for adjoining land owners;
 * direct sale to one party where circumstances so warrant; and,
 * competitive bidding at public auction.

The Bureau may sell only to citizens of the United States or corporations subject to federal or state laws.

The following excerpt was taken from the Congressional Research Service Report Federal Land Ownership: Current Acquisition and Disposal Authorities.

The [Bureau of Land Management] can dispose of its public lands under several authorities. A primary means of disposal is through exchanges under FLPMA, as amended. The exchange must serve the public interest, and the federal and nonfederal lands in the exchange must be located in the same state and be of roughly equal value (with cash adjustments possible), among other requirements.

Other general disposal authorities include (1) sales under FLPMA; (2) sales or exchanges under the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA; Title II of P.L. 106-248); (3) patents under the 1872 General Mining Law; and (4) transfers to other governmental units for public purposes.11

Section 203 of FLPMA authorizes the BLM to sell certain tracts of public land that meet specific criteria (43 U.S.C. § 1713(a)):

"(a) A tract of the public lands (except land in units of the National Wilderness Preservation System, National Wild and Scenic Rivers Systems, and National System of Trails) may be sold under this Act where, as a result of land use planning required under section 1712 of this title, the Secretary determines that the sale of such tract meets the following disposal criteria:" "(1) such tract because of its location or other characteristics is difficult and uneconomic to manage as part of the public lands, and is not suitable for management by another Federal department or agency; or" "(2) such tract was acquired for a specific and the tract is no longer required for that or any other Federal purpose; or" "(3) disposal of such tract will serve important public objectives, including but not limited to, expansion of communities and economic development, which cannot be achieved prudently or feasibly on land other than public land and which outweigh other public objectives and values, including, but not limited to, recreation and scenic values, which would be served by maintaining such tract in Federal ownership."

The size of the tracts for sale is to be determined by “the land use capabilities and development requirements.” Proposals to sell tracts of more than 2,500 acres must first be submitted to Congress, and such can be disapproved by Congress.12 Tracts are to be sold at not less than their fair market value, generally through competitive bidding, although modified competition and non-competitive sales are allowed.13

FLTFA provides for the sale or exchange of BLM lands identified for disposal under the BLM land use plans in effect at the date of enactment. This act created a separate Treasury account for proceeds from the sale or exchange, and provides for the use of those funds by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture. The Secretaries may acquire nonfederal lands, especially inholdings and lands adjacent to federal lands that contain exceptional resources. Up to 20% of the funds may be used for administrative costs, and at least 80% of the funds for acquisition are to be used in the state in which the funds were generated.

The General Mining Law of 1872 allows access to hardrock minerals on federal lands that have not been withdrawn from entry. Minerals within a valid mining claim can be developed without obtaining full title to the land. However, with evidence of valuable minerals and sufficient developmental effort, mining claims can be patented, with full title transferred to the claimant upon payment of the appropriate fee — $5.00 per acre for vein or lode claims (30 U.S.C. § 29) or $2.50 for placer claims (30 U.S.C. § 37), plus various filing fees. Non-mineral lands used for associated milling or other processing operations can also be patented (30 U.S.C. § 42). Patented lands may be used for purposes other than mineral development. Beginning in FY1995, Congress has enacted a series of annual moratoria on issuing mineral patents in the annual Interior appropriations acts, effectively preventing this means of federal land disposal. Congress continues to debate mining law reform.14

The Recreation and Public Purposes Act (43 U.S.C. § 869) authorizes the Secretary, upon application by a qualified applicant, to:

"... dispose of any public lands to a State, Territory, county, municipality, or other State, Territorial, or Federal instrumentality or political subdivision for any public purposes, or to a nonprofit corporation or nonprofit association for any recreational or any public purpose consistent with its articles of incorporation or other creating authority."

The act specifies conditions, qualifications, and acreage limitations for transfer, and provides for restoring the lands to the public domain if conditions are not met.

The BLM also has several geographically-limited land sale authorities. The largest is the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act (P.L. 105-263) which allows the Secretary of the Interior to sell or exchange certain lands around Las Vegas. The BLM and the local government unit jointly decide on the lands to be offered for sale or exchange. In general, 85% of the proceeds are deposited into a special account, and are available to the Secretary of the Interior for land acquisition in Nevada. The Secretary has approved of acquisitions for each of the federal land managing agencies. The other 15% of the proceeds are provided to the State of Nevada and certain local entities for state and local purposes, such as the Nevada general education fund. Other statutes similarly provide for BLM land sales in particular areas (mostly in Nevada), with specific allocations of the proceeds.

11The Homestead Act and many other authorities for disposing of the public lands were repealed by FLPMA in 1976, with a 10-year extension in Alaska. The General Services Administration has the authority to dispose of surplus federal property under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949; however, that act generally excludes the public domain, mineral lands, and lands previously withdrawn or reserved from the public domain (40 U.S.C. § 472(d)(1)).

12This and certain other provisions of FLPMA may be unconstitutional under INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919 (1983).

13Desert lands also can be disposed under other laws. The Carey Act (43 U.S.C. § 641) authorizes transfers to a state, upon application and meeting certain requirements, while the Desert Entry Land Act (43 U.S.C. § 321) allows citizens to reclaim and patent 320 acres of desert public land. These provisions are seldom used, however, because the lands must be classified as available and sufficient water rights for settling on the land must be obtained.

14See CRS Report RL33908, Mining on Federal Lands: Hardrock Minerals, by Marc Humphries.

Special Programs and Policies
The Bureau of Land Management has a series of manuals and handbooks that lay out the Bureau's responsibilities and legal relationships to Indian nations in several different programmatic areas.

A partial list of handbooks addressing issues related to land follows:


 * Land Status Records
 * Land Use Planning
 * Land Exchanges
 * Tribal Consultation Under Cultural Resources
 * Appraisal of Real Property

This list is by no means exhaustive; in fact, there are over 100 such manuals listed on the BLM website.