**GAO-07-1092**                      Published: Sep 18, 2007. Publicly Released: Sep 18, 2007.                  

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## Highlights

Over the past two decades, provisions of the Food Security Act of 1985, among others, have allowed the Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency in partnership with the Department of the Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to add farmlands found to have important resources to the National Wildlife Refuge System. The Farm Service Agency transferred such farmlands to the Service through outright ownership ("fee simple") or through conservation easements. Individual farmlands are managed by the nearest refuge office. GAO was asked to examine (1) the extent of farmland received by the Service, (2) the extent to which the Service is currently managing its farmlands, and (3) alternatives for managing these lands. To answer these objectives, GAO visited five refuges and surveyed managers responsible for a random sample of 98 farmlands.

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## Topics

Natural Resources and Environment

ConservationEasementsFederal agenciesFederal property managementLand managementLand useLand use lawProgram managementPublic landsWildlifeWildlife conservationInteragency relationsRecords managementFarmland