We examined the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) legal authority to (1) allow businesses to operate concessions, in the form of resort and recreational facilities, on lands it manages along the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California; and (2) continue to collect and retain lease fees from these businesses.
BLM cites the Federal Land Policy and Management Act's (FLPMA) lease provisions as its authority to allow businesses to operate concessions on these lands. It also applies the Federal Land Recreation Act's (FLREA) “special recreation permit fee” provision for collecting and retaining lease fees from the businesses that operate under its leases. We focused our review on BLM's use of these authorities.
We found that BLM's methods of determining lease fees and cost-recovery amounts, as well as its fee retention practices, are inconsistent with FLPMA's lease authority. We also found that BLM's application of FLREA appears to be inconsistent with the authority.
BLM invokes multiple statutes in its concession program because it does not have a concession program with clear authorities. Our report offered seven recommendations intended to ensure that BLM properly applies the provisions of FLPMA and FLREA, and to encourage BLM to seek explicit statutory authority to establish a robust concession program. BLM concurred with most of our recommendations, and is working to implement them.