Federal Lands: Public Land Access (Testimony, 11/09/93, GAO/T-RCED-94-72). According to managers at the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), access to more than 50 million acres of public land in the United States is inadequate, a situation that can potentially reduce the public's recreational opportunities and interfere with the government's land management. Private landowners are increasingly unwilling to grant public access across their land because of concerns about vandalism and potential liability or because of desires for privacy or exclusive personal use. To overcome access problems, the Forest Service and BLM may acquire all rights and interests associated with the land or obtain perpetual easements. In fiscal years 1989-91, the Forest Service and BLM acquired permanent legal public access to about 4.5 million acres of federal land. The two agencies had plans as of October 1991 to open another 9.3 million acres of federal land to the public. --------------------------- Indexing Terms ----------------------------- REPORTNUM: T-RCED-94-72 TITLE: Federal Lands: Public Land Access DATE: 11/09/93 SUBJECT: National forests Public lands Land management Federal property management Land use agreements Legal rights National recreation areas National parks Personal property Outdoor recreation IDENTIFIER: Los Padres National Forest (CA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We regret that electronic text of GAO Testimony is not available at this time. See the GAO FAQ - Section 2.0 for printed copy ordering information. The FAQ is automatically retrieved with all WAIS search results or can be obtained by sending e-mail to: [email protected]