U.S. Proposes Massive Land Swap in West
The Reagan Administration today unveiled plans for a massive 35-million acre land swap in the West aimed at greater efficiency of government-owned land.
Exchanges between the government’s largest landlords, the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, could result in eventual savings of $25 million to $35 million a year through the consolidation of offices in 71 communities and the elimination of 700 to 1,200 jobs through attrition, the heads of the two agencies told a news conference today.
Congress will be given a detailed legislative proposal in June, said Max Peterson, chief of the Forest Service, and Robert Burford, director of the Bureau of Land Management.
‘Two-Hatted’ Positions
Until Congress acts, they said they will administer each agency’s lands according to the laws governing that agency through “two-hatting” their employees--appointing a Forest Service employee to his counterpart bureau position, or vice versa, as jobs are vacated through retirements or transfers.
Environmentalists generally saw no benefit in upsetting the established order.
“The only rationale I can see is that it will make the budget look less imbalanced,” said one, Debbie Sease of the Sierra Club’s Washington office.
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