Title 43—Public Lands: Interior--Volume 1
PART 2710—SALES: FEDERAL LAND POLICY AND MANAGEMENT ACT
§ 2710.0-1   Purpose.
The regulations in this part implement the sale authority of section 203 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701, 1713).
§ 2710.0-2   Objective.
The objective is to provide for the orderly disposition at not less than fair market value of public lands identified for sale as part of the land use planning process.
§ 2710.0-3   Authority.
(a) The Secretary of the Interior is authorized by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701, 1713), to sell public lands where, as a result of land use planning, it is determined that the sale of such tract meets any or all of the following disposal criteria:
(1) Such tract was acquired for a specific purpose and the tract is no longer required for that or any other Federal purpose; or
(2) Disposal of such tract shall serve important public objectives, including but not limited to, expansion of communities and economic development, which cannot be achieved prudently or feasibly on lands other than public lands and which outweigh other public objectives and values, including, but not limited to, recreation and scenic values, which would be served by maintaining such tract in Federal ownership; or
(3) Such tract, because of its location or other characteristics is difficult and uneconomic to manage as part of the public lands and is not suitable for management by another Federal department or agency.
(b) The Secretary of the Interior is authorized by section 310 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (43 U.S.C. 1740) to promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the purpose of the Act.
§ 2710.0-5   Definitions.
As used in this part, the term
(a) Public lands means any lands and interest in lands owned by the United States and administered by the Secretary through the Bureau of Land Management except:
(1) Lands located on the Outer Continental Shelf;
(2) Lands held for the benefit of Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos.
(b) Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.
(c) Authorized officer means any employee of the Bureau of Land Management who has been delegated the authority to perform the duties described in this part.
(d) Act means the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701).
(e) Family sized farm means the unit of public lands determined to be chiefly valuable for agriculture, and that is of sufficient size, based on land use capabilities, development requirements and economic capability, to provide a level of net income, after payment of expenses and taxes, which will sustain a family sized agribusiness operation above the poverty level for a rural farm family of 4 as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, for the calendar year immediately preceeding the year of the proposed sale under the regulations of this part. The determination of the practical size is an economic decision to be made on a local area basis considering, but not limited to, factors such as: Climatic conditions, soil character, availability of irrigation water, topography, usual crop(s) of the locale, marketability of the crop(s), production and development costs, and other physical characteristics which shall give reasonable assurance of continued production under proper conservation management.
§ 2710.0-6   Policy.
(a) Sales under this part shall be made only in implementation of an approved land use plan or analysis in accordance with part 1600 of this title.
(b) Public lands determined to be suitable for sale shall be offered only on the initiative of the Bureau of Land Management. Indications of interest to have specific tracts of public lands offered for sale shall be accomplished through public input to the land use planning process. (See §§ 1601.1-1 and 1601.8 of this title). Nominations or requests to have specific tracts of public lands offered for sale may also be made by direct request to the authorized officer.
(c)(1) The Federal Land Policy and Management Act (43 U.S.C. 1713(f)) provides that sales of public lands under this section shall be conducted under competitive bidding procedures established by the Secretary. However, where the Secretary determines it necessary and proper in order to assure equitable distribution among purchasers of lands, or to recognize equitable considerations or public policies, including, but not limited to, a preference to users, lands may be sold by modified competitive bidding or without competitive bidding. In recognizing public policies, the Secretary shall give consideration to the following potential purchasers:
(i) The State in which the lands are located;
(ii) The local government entities in such State which are in vicinity of the lands;
(iii) Adjoining landowners;
(iv) Individuals; and
(v) Any other person.
(2) When a parcel of land meets the sale criteria of section 203 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (43 U.S.C. 1713), several factors shall be considered in determining the method of sale. These factors include, but are not limited to: Competitive interest; needs of State and local governments; adjoining landowners; historical uses; and equitable distribution of land ownership.
(3) Three methods of sale are provided for in § 2711.3 of this title: competitive; modified competitive; and direct (non-competitive). The policy for selecting the method of sale is:
(i) Competitive sale as provided in § 2711.3-1 of this title is the general procedure for sales of public lands and may be used where there would be a number of interested parties bidding for the lands and (A) wherever in the judgment of the authorized officer the lands are accessible and usable regardless of adjoining land ownership and (B) wherever the lands are within a developing or urbanizing area and land values are increasing due to their location and interest on the competitive market.
(ii) Modified competitive sales as provided in § 2711.3-2 of this title may be used to permit the existing grazing user or adjoining landowner to meet the high bid at the public sale. This procedure will allow for limited competitive sales to protect on-going uses, to assure compatibility of the possible uses with adjacent lands, and avoid dislocation of existing users. Lands offered under this procedure would normally be public lands not located near urban expansion areas, or with rapidly increasing land values, and existing use of adjacent lands would be jeopardized by sale under competitive bidding procedures.
(iii) Direct sale as provided in § 2711.3-3 of this title may be used when the lands offered for sale are completely surrounded by lands in one ownership with no public access, or where the lands are needed by State or local governments or non-profit corporations, or where necessary to protect existing equities in the lands or resolve inadvertent unauthorized use or occupancy of said lands.
(4) When lands have been offered for sale by one method of sale and the lands remain unsold, then the lands may be reoffered by another method of sale.
(5) In no case shall lands be sold for less than fair market value.
(d) Sales of public lands determined to be chiefly valuable for agriculture shall be no larger than necessary to support a family-sized farm.
(e) The sale of family-sized farm units, at any given sale, shall be limited to one unit per bidder and one unit per family. The limit of one unit per family is not to be be construed as limiting children eighteen years or older from bidding in their own right.
(f) Sales under this part shall not be made at less than fair market value. Such value is to be determined by an appraisal performed by a Federal or independent appraiser, as determined by the authorized officer, using the principles contained in the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions. The value of authorized improvements owned by anyone other than the United States upon lands being sold shall not be included in the determination of fair market value. Technical review and approval for conformance with appraisal standards shall be conducted by the authorized officer.
(g) Constraint and discretion shall be used with regard to the terms, covenants, conditions and reservations authorized by section 208 of the Act that are to be in sales patents and other conveyance documents, except where inclusion of such provisions is required by law or for protection of valid existing rights.
§ 2710.0-8   Lands subject to sale.
(a) All public lands, as defined by § 2710.0-5 of this title, and, which meet the disposal criteria specified under § 2710.0-3 of this title, are subject to sale pursuant to this part, except:
(1) Those public lands within the revested Oregon California Railroad and reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon Road grants which are more suitable for management and administration for permanent forest protection and other purposes as provided for in the Acts of August 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 874; 43 U.S.C. 1181(a)); May 24, 1939 (53 Stat. 753); and section 701(b) of the Act.
(2) Public lands in units of the National Wilderness Preservation System, National Wild and Scenic Rivers System and National System of Trails.
(3) Public lands classified, withdrawn, reserved or otherwise designated as not available or subject to sale shall not be sold under the regulations of this part until issuance of an order or notice which either opens or provides for such disposition.
(b) Unsurveyed public lands shall not be sold under the regulations of this part until they are officially surveyed under the public land survey system of the United States. Such survey shall be completed and approved by the Secretary prior to any sale.
§ 2711.1   Initiation of sale.
§ 2711.1-1   Identification of tracts by land use planning.
(a) Tracts of public lands shall only be offered for sale in implementation of land use planning prepared and/or approved in accordance with subpart 1601 of this title.
(b) Public input proposing tracts of public lands for disposal through sale as part of the land use planning process may be made in accordance with §§ 1601.3, 1601.6-3 or § 1601.8 of this title.
(c) Nominations or requests for sales of public lands may be made to the District office of the Bureau of Land Management for the District in which the public lands are located and shall specifically identify the tract being nominated or requested and the reason for proposing sale of the specific tract.
§ 2711.1-2   Notice of realty action.
(a) A notice of realty action offering for sale a tract or tracts of public lands identified for disposal by sale shall be issued, published and sent to parties of interest by the authorized officer not less than 60 days prior to the sale. The notice shall include the terms, convenants, conditions and reservations which are to be included in the conveyance document and the method of sale. The notice shall also provide 45 days after the date of issuance for the right of comment by the public and interested parties.
(b) Not less than 60 days prior to sale, notice shall be sent to the Member of the U.S. House of Representatives in whose district the public lands proposed for sale are located and the U.S. Senators for the State in which the public lands proposed for sale are located, the Senate and House of Representatives, as required by paragraph (f) of this section, to Governor of the State within which the public lands are located, to the head of the governing body of any political subdivision having zoning or other land use regulatory responsibility in the geographic area within which the public lands are located and to the head of any political subdivision having administrative or public services responsibility in the geographic area within which the lands are located. The notice shall be sent to other known interested parties of record including, but not limited to, adjoining landowners and current land users.
(c) The notice shall be published once in the Federal Register and once a week for 3 weeks thereafter in a newspaper of general circulation in the general vicinity of the public lands being proposed to be offered for sale.
(d) The publication of the notice of realty action in the Federal Register segregates the public lands covered by the notice of realty action to the extent that they will not be subject to appropriation under the public land laws, including the mining laws. Any subsequent application will not be accepted, will not be considered as filed, and will be returned to the applicant if the notice segregates from the use applied for in the application. The segregative effect of the notice of realty action terminates: (i) Upon issuance of a patent or other document of conveyance to such lands; (ii) upon publication in the Federal Register of a termination of the segregation; or (iii) at the end of the specified segregation period, whichever occurs first. The segregation period may not exceed two years unless, on a case-by-case basis, the BLM State Director determines that the extension is necessary and documents, in writing, why the extension is needed. Such an extension will not be renewable and cannot be extended beyond the additional two years. If an extension is deemed necessary, the BLM will publish a notice following the same procedure as that stated in paragraph (c) of this section.
(e) The notice published under § 1610.5 of this title may, if so designated in the notice and is the functional equivalent of a notice of realty action required by this section, serve as the notice of realty action required by paragraph (a) of this section and may segregate the public lands covered by the sale proposal to the same extent that they would have been segregated under a notice of realty action issued under paragraph (a) of this section.
(f) For tracts of public lands in excess of 2,500 acres, the notice shall be submitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives not less than the 90 days prescribed by section 203 of the Act (43 U.S.C. 1713(c)) prior to the date of sale. The sale may not be held prior to the completion of the congressional notice period unless such period is waived by Congress.
§ 2711.1-3   Sales requiring grazing permit or lease cancellations.
When lands are identified for disposal and such disposal will preclude livestock grazing, the sale shall not be made until the permittees and lessees are given 2 years prior notification, except in cases of emergency, that their grazing permit or grazing lease and grazing preference may be cancelled in accordance with § 4110.4-2(b) of this title. A sale may be made of such identified lands if the sale is conditioned upon continued grazing by the current permittee/lessee until such time as the current grazing permit or lease would have expired or terminated. A permittee or lessee may unconditionally waive the 2-year prior notification. The publication of a notice of realty action as provided in § 2711.1-2(c) of this title shall constitute notice to the grazing permittee or lessee if such notice has not been previously given.
§ 2711.2   Qualified conveyees.
Tracts sold under this part may only be conveyed to:
(a) A citizen of the United States 18 years of age or over;
(b) A corporation subject to the laws of any State or of the United States;
(c) A State, State instrumentality or political subdivision authorized to hold property; and
(d) An entity legally capable of conveying and holding lands or interests therein under the laws of the State within which the lands to be conveyed are located. Where applicable, the entity shall also meet the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section.
§ 2711.3   Procedures for sale.
§ 2711.3-1   Competitive bidding.
When public lands are offered through competitive bidding:
(a) The date, time, place, and manner for submitting bids shall be specified in the notice required by § 2711.1-2 of this title.
(b) Bids may be made by a principal or a duly qualified agent.
(c) Sealed bids shall be considered only if received at the place of sale prior to the hour fixed in the notice and are made for at least the fair market value. Each bid shall be accompanied by certified check, postal money order, bank draft or cashier's check made payable to the Bureau of Land Management for the amount required in the notice of realty action which shall be not less than 10 percent or more than 30 percent of the amount of the bid, and shall be enclosed in a sealed envelope which shall be marked as prescribed in the notice. If 2 or more envelopes containing valid bids of the same amount are received, the determination of which is to be considered the highest bid shall be by supplemental biddings. The designated high bidders shall be allowed to submit oral or sealed bids as designated by the authorized officer.
(d) The highest qualifying sealed bid received shall be publicly declared by the authorized officer. If the notice published pursuant to § 2711.1-2 of this title provides for oral bids, such bids, in increments specified by the authorized officer, shall then be invited. After oral bids, if any, are received, the highest qualifying bid, designated by type, whether sealed or oral, shall be declared by the authorized officer. The person declared to have entered the highest qualifying oral bid shall submit payment by cash, personal check, bank draft, money order, or any combination for not less than one-fifth of the amount of the bid immediately following the close of the sale. The successful bidder, whether such bid is a sealed or oral bid, shall submit the remainder of the full bid price prior to the expiration of 180 days from the date of the sale. Failure to submit the full bid price prior to, but not including the 180th day following the day of the sale, shall result in cancellation of the sale of the specific parcel and the deposit shall be forfeited and disposed of as other receipts of sale. In the event the authorized officer rejects the highest qualified bid or releases the bidder from it, the authorized officer shall determine whether the public lands shall be withdrawn from the market or be reoffered.
(e) If the public lands are not sold pursuant to the notice issued under § 2711.1-2 of this subpart, they may remain available for sale on a continuing basis until sold as specified in the notice.
(f) The acceptance or rejection of any offer to purchase shall be in writing no later than 30 days after receipt of such offer unless the offerer waives his right to a decision within such 30-day period. In case of a tract of land in excess of 2,500 acres, such acceptance or rejection shall not be given until the expiration of 30 days after the end of the notice to the Congress provided for in § 2711.1-2(d) of this subpart. Prior to the expiration of such periods the authorized officer may refuse to accept any offer or may withdraw any tract from sale if he determines that:
(1) Consummation of the sale would be inconsistent with the provisions of any existing law; or
(2) Collusive or other activities have hindered or restrained free and open bidding; or
(3) Consummation of the sale would encourage or promote speculation in public lands.
(g) Until the acceptance of the offer and payment of the purchase price, the bidder has no contractual or other rights against the United States, and no action taken shall create any contractual or other obligations of the United States.
§ 2711.3-2   Modified bidding.
(a) Public lands may be offered for sale utilizing modified competitive bidding procedures when the authorized officer determines it is necessary in order to assure equitable distribution of land among purchasers or to recognize equitable considerations or public policies.
(1) Modified competitive bidding includes, but is not limited to:
(i) Offering to designated bidders the right to meet the highest bid. Refusal or failure to meet the highest bid shall constitute a waiver of such bidding provisions; or
(ii) A limitation of persons permitted to bid on a specific tract of land offered for sale; or
(iii) Offering to designated bidders the right of first refusal to purchase the lands at fair market value. Failure to accept an offer to purchase the offered lands within the time specified by the authorized officer shall constitute a waiver of his preference consideration.
(2) Factors that shall be considered in determining when modified competitive bidding procedures shall be used, include but are not limited to: Needs of State and/or local government, adjoining landowners, historical users, and other needs for the tract. A description of the method of modified competitive bidding to be used and a statement indicating the purpose or objective of the bidding procedure selected shall be specified in the notice of realty action required in § 2711.1-2 of this subpart.
(b) Where 2 or more designated bidders exercise preference consideration awarded by the authorized officer in accordance with paragraph (a)(1) of this section, such bidders shall be offered the opportunity to agree upon a division of the lands among themselves. In the absence of a written agreement, the preference right bidders shall be allowed to continue bidding to determine the high bidder.
(c) Where designated bidders fail to exercise the preference consideration offered by the authorized officer in the allowed time, the sale shall proceed using the procedures specified in § 2711.3-1 of this subpart; and
(d) Once the method of modified competitive or noncompetitive sale is determined and such determination has been issued, published and sent in accordance with procedures of this part, payment shall be by the same instruments as authorized in § 2711.3-1(c) of this subpart.
(e) Acceptance or rejection of any offer to purchase shall be in accordance with the procedures set forth in § 2711.3-1 (f) and (g) of this subpart.
§ 2711.3-3   Direct sales.
(a) Direct sales (without competition) may be utilized, when in the opinion of the authorized officer, a competitive sale is not appropriate and the public interest would best be served by a direct sale. Examples include, but are not limited to:
(1) A tract identified for transfer to State or local government or nonprofit organization; or
(2) A tract identified for sale that is an integral part of a project or public importance and speculative bidding would jeopardize a timely completion and economic viability of the project; or
(3) There is a need to recognize an authorized use such as an existing business which could suffer a substantial economic loss if the tract were purchased by other than the authorized user; or
(4) The adjoining ownership pattern and access indicate a direct sale is appropriate; or
(5) A need to resolve inadvertent unauthorized use or occupancy of the lands.
(b) Once the authorized officer has determined that the lands will be offered by direct sale and such determination has been issued, published and sent in accordance with procedures of this part, payment shall be made by the same instruments as authorized in § 2711.3-1(c) of this subpart.
(c) Failure to accept an offer to purchase the offered lands within the time specified by the authorized officer shall constitute a waiver of this preference consideration.
(d) Acceptance or rejection of an offer to purchase the lands shall be in accordance with the procedures set forth in § 2711.3-1 (f) and (g) of this subpart.
§ 2711.4   Compensation for authorized improvements.
§ 2711.4-1   Grazing improvements.
No public lands in a grazing lease or permit may be conveyed until the provisions of part 4100 of this title concerning compensation for any authorized grazing improvements have been met.
§ 2711.4-2   Other private improvements.
Where public lands to be sold under this part contain authorized private improvements, other than those identified in § 2711.4-1 of this subpart or those subject to a patent reservation, the owner of such improvements shall be given an opportunity to remove them if such owner has not been declared the purchaser of the lands sold, or the prospective purchaser may compensate the owner of such authorized private improvements and submit proof of compensation to the authorized officer.
§ 2711.5   Conveyance documents.
Patents and other conveyance documents issued under this part shall contain a reservation to the United States of all minerals. Such minerals shall be subject to the right to explore, prospect for, mine, and remove under applicable law and such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe. However, upon the filing of an application as provided in part 2720 of this title, the Secretary may convey the mineral interest if all requirements of the law are met. Where such application has been filed and meets the requirements for conveyance, the authorized officer may withhold issuance of a patent or other document of conveyance on lands sold under this part until processing of the mineral conveyance application is completed, at which time a single patent or document of conveyance for the entire estate or interest of the United States may be issued.
§ 2711.5-2   Terms, covenants, conditions, and reservations.
Patents or other conveyance documents issued under this part may contain such terms, covenants, conditions, and reservations as the authorized officer determines are necessary in the public interest to insure proper land use and protection of the public interest as authorized by section 208 of the Act.
§ 2711.5-3   Notice of conveyance.
The authorized officer shall immediately notify the Governor and the heads of local government of the issuance of conveyance documents for public lands within their respective jurisdiction.