IN REPLY REFER TO:
L1425 (660)

Mr. Bo W Thott
HCR 69 Box 336
Cutler, ME 04626-9602

Dear Mr. Thott:

This in response to your letter of January 29 requesting information on sales by private landowners to the National Park Service and the number of those sales that were the result of eminent domain action.

By now you should have received my reply to your Freedom of Information Act request for a list of the names and addresses of private parties who sold land to the National Park Service in fiscal year 1992. That list furnished a name and an address for the seller of each separate tract of land sold to the Service, a total of 1284, but since there were numerous owners who sold two or more tracts, the number of “sales” or transactions is far fewer. None of those transactions involved eminent domain proceedings; they all were sales, which I understood to be what you requested. Eminent domain actions are not counted as sales.

During fiscal year 1992, the National Park Service commenced eminent domain proceedings on 42 tracts of land. In some cases, the action was taken because an owner could not convey clear title to his land or because an owner could not be located or was unknown. The majority of the actions were initiated, however, because agreement on purchase price could not be reached. The percent of acquisitions in fiscal year 1992 that were by condemnation was 3.2. That figure is derived by dividing the number of condemnations (42) by 1326 (1284 purchases plus 42 condemnations). Because of the length of time involved in condemnation, few if any of the cases filed in fiscal year 1992 have been 19 concluded. The percentage of condemnations filed is lower than had been anticipated because no cases were filed on tracts in the Everglades National Park addition.

I trust this is the information you are seeking.

Sincerely

Willis P. Kriz
Chief, Land Resources Division