Increasing the efficiency of land transactions

The benefits of federal land acquisition and conservation for the public good are increasingly obvious - air and water quality, climate change mitigation, wildlife habitat, and human health and recreation to name a few - just as development pressures on America’s lands grow. The urgency of the situation and rapid timeline necessitate federal land acquisition processes that are efficient and able to funnel increased funding at a more rapid pace to close land transactions. However, federal land acquisition processes exhibit multiple inefficiencies that extend the timeline for getting deals done and lose potentially valuable landowners and deals in the process. Correcting these inefficiencies will be critical to meeting America’s conservation goals, while maintaining integrity and ensuring the government is not overpaying in land conservation transactions.