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GAO-06-1135R 1 (2006-09-26)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptaswx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Sai Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 September 26, 2006 The Honorable Greg Walden Chairman Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health Committee on Resources House of Representatives The Honorable Earl Blumenauer House of Representatives Subject: Federal Land Exchange: Assessment of Mount Hood Land Appraisal Reports In response to your request, we briefed you and your staff on September 21, 2006, on the results of our review of two appraisal reports prepared for a proposed land exchange contained within the pending bill H.R. 5025, the Mount Hood Stewardship Legacy Act. This bill would authorize the exchange of private land and business interests at Cooper Spur for Forest Service land at Government Camp in Oregon. Specifically, you asked that we determine whether the appraisal reports supporting this land exchange were prepared in compliance with recognized appraisal standards, namely, appraisal industry standards as defined in the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practices (USPAP) and federal standards as defined in the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions (UASFLA). To conduct this work, we contracted with two certified appraisers to conduct separate and independent formal reviews of the Cooper Spur and Government Camp appraisal reports and to provide their professional opinions on whether these reports conform to the recognized industry and federal appraisal standards. We asked the review appraisers to conduct a desk review in accordance with appraisal standards, which consists of reviewing the information and analyses contained within the reports, as well as examining the internal logic and consistency. The appraisers did not independently verify the data presented within the reports, visually inspect the properties, or establish separate valuations of the properties. Both appraisers concluded that the Cooper Spur appraisal report did not comply with the recognized standards, although they differed on whether the Government Camp appraisal report complied with the standards. On the basis of the review appraisers' reports and conclusions, we concluded that the federal government has limited assurance that the Cooper Spur and Government Camp appraisal reports reflect market value for the land and business interests proposed for this exchange. We discussed our results with the certified appraiser who prepared the appraisal reports and considered his comments in preparing our final report. Enclosure I provides the slides that we used in our briefing to you and your staff members. We conducted this work from August 2006 through September 2006 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. GAO-06-1135R Mount Hood Land Appraisal Reports

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