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Land Entity White Paper <br />November 30, 1999 <br />federal governments and by other participants in the Cooperative Agreement which are <br />likely to be important in the decision - making process. <br />The White Paper examines several options for structuring the land component of <br />the Program and representing party and stakeholder interests. Each is a different <br />approach to how a Land Entity will share responsibilities with the Governance <br />Committee and interact with local interests. In addition, the White Paper presents <br />organizational options for the Land Entity that would carry out tasks within the chosen <br />Program structure. The Land Entity could be an existing organization, a Program <br />committee, a new organization, a group of organizations or some combination of <br />governmental, quasi - governmental and non - profit organizations working in concert. The <br />White Paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each option for the Program <br />structure and Land Entity organization, but makes no recommendations to the <br />Governance Committee. A series of appendices looks at other decisions that remain to <br />be made. Some of these issues need resolved to move from a structure to a detailed <br />organization — such as representation in entity governance. Other issues underlie how the <br />participants view the Land Entity as working for them, and may affect the management <br />structures and entities that participants find acceptable. Such issues include the types of <br />land interests to be managed by the Land Entity and the disposition of interests in land in <br />the event of Program failure. In each area discussed, the intent of this report is to identify <br />options and their practical and legal implications to help frame discussions and <br />negotiations, not to render opinions. <br />H. Executive Summary <br />This white paper sets out a range of options available to answer three questions <br />about how the land component of the proposed Program should be managed: (1) What <br />will be the delegation of authority from the Governing Committee to the Land Entity? <br />(2) What structure can carry out the functions to be assigned? and (3) While the Land <br />Entity must be responsive and accountable to the federal and state signatories, to what <br />degree will the interests of local communities and landowners where projects will be <br />taking place be taken into account? The paper considers alternative solutions to these <br />and other questions, but makes no recommendations. <br />The paper explores potential relationships between the Governance Committee <br />and Land Entity by examining three possible scenarios in the range of available options. <br />In the first, the Governance Committee would delegate all major activities and decision - <br />making to a strong and carefully crafted Land Entity, which is designed to accommodate, <br />either directly, or through its contractors, all tasks related to land protection, restoration <br />and management. The Governance Committee's role would be one of oversight and <br />management through control of funding and the budget process. At the other end of the <br />spectrum, the Governance Committee could retain a high degree of involvement and <br />control over all activities related to land protection, management and restoration, either <br />acting itself to approve all plans, transactions and negotiating strategies, or assigning <br />