Summary: The privately owned Baca Ranch covers nearly 95,000 acres in northern New Mexico. The Forest Service wants to buy the ranch because it contains a diversity of natural features and is almost completely surrounded by the Santa Fe National Forest. The ranch owners had the property appraised in September 1998 by certified appraisers who concluded that the land's fair market value was $101 million--or $1,061 per acre. This report discusses the extent to which the value established by the owner's appraisal was consistent with the comparable property sales data presented in the appraisal and in the Services' market study and other key factors that influenced the appraisal's final outcome. GAO concludes that although the owner's appraisal of the Baca Ranch's value complied with federal appraisal standards, the appraised value is higher than supported solely by sales of comparable properties presented in the appraisal and in the Service's market study and reflects a premium. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Federal Land Management: Baca Ranch Appraisal Land Acquisition Issues, by Barry T. Hill, Associate Director, Energy, Resources, and Science Issues, before the Subcommittee on Forests and Public Lands Management, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. GAO/T-RCED-00-105, Mar. 10 (eight pages).
