GAO: Mixed results to come from Forest Service move to DOI

Moving the US Forest Service into the US Department of the Interior could potentially create long-term benefits and short-term problems, the Government Accountability Office said in a Feb. 24 report. GAO said according to many agency officials and experts, where the mission of the Forest Service, which now is part of the US Department of Agriculture, is aligned with those of DOI agencies (in particular, its multiple use missions which is comparable to that of the US Bureau of Land Management), a move could increase some of the agencies' programs and policies overall effectiveness. "Conversely, most agency officials and experts GAO interview believed that few short-term efficiencies would be realized from such a move, although a number said opportunities would be created for potential long-term efficiencies," GAO's report continued...Oil & Gas Journal

Bob Burford, Director of the BLM in the 80's, had a proposal to just have the BLM & Forest Service swap land jurisdiction where it made budgetary and administrative sense. For instance, in northern Idaho where most of the land was owned by the FS, they would manage the BLM lands and vice versa in the south. Why have a BLM office & a FS office in the same town or area?

The proposal made sense so naturally it went nowhere.