Land Exchange Design and Public Advocacy

A rural Oregon landowner owned property that was heavily impacted by endangered species restrictions, and thought exchanging these lands for unencumbered Federal lands created a win-win. His goal was a land exchange design that would place his environmentally sensitive lands in public conservation ownership while gaining access to lands that were more suited to harvesting and forest operations.

We structured the landowner’s proposal to minimize inherent conflicts and garner support from Congress. As a result, $5 million in funds were appropriated to undertake a land exchange study.