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100475 The lands acquired to date have, for the most part, been the parcels that were easy to acquire. Many of the r0maininq tracts will need to go through co~demnation, a slow and com- plex process. Historically, condemnation has resulted in the nee~ for additional staff to prepare the cases, court awards in excess of appraised vallIe, and negative feelinas of thd . local population toward the Federal Government and the rivers program. I Presented below are examples'of how a total reliance on land acquisition has 'IOrked on two of the original rivers admitted to the national system in 1968. These e~amples illustrate that obtaining control over the necessary land through acquisition has been slow. Consequently, costs of purchasing the desired land have increased significantly, and some rivers have not been adequately protected during the lengthy period before acquisitions were completed. , , ~~9~~_~i~~~~!~9~~ The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management share administrative responsibility for the Rogue River. In 1968 the estimated cost for land acquisition along the Rogue was $3.9 million. Current projected acquisition costs lotal about $15.1 mil~ion. As of June 30, 1977, $7.8 million has been obligated to acqui.e 5,208 acres of land along the river corridor. Agency officials estimate that scenic easements on another 2,813 acres will be needed at the estimated cost of $7.3 million. This represents all the private lands along the Rogue uiver. Though 65 percent of the total acreage needed along the Rogue has been acquired, this includes only 165 of the 507 privately owned tracts. Agency officials advised that most of the tra=ts acquired to date have been tracts where the owners have been willing to sEllar exchange their lands for Federal lands. The agencies estimate that more than 50 percent of the remaining tracts will have to be acquired through condemnation. However, as more than 50 percent of the lands along ~he Rogue River are already federally owned, the Federal agencies can only condemn for nccnic 0ascmcntc. The Bureau of Land Management has not completed any conde~nation caSeS to date. During fiscal year 1976, the Forest Service completed 10 condemnarion cases involving 395 acres. The Forest Service appraised toe value of the ease- ments at $308,750 then updated the estimates to the date of talcinu at $367,000. Howev~r, settlements alld court awards came to $1.7 million. ^ Porest Service official not0d that 25 ;.J