Courtesy Photo | (left to right) Ashley Kiley, natural resources specialist; Mary Rinehart, Onalaska...... read more read more
The real estate office, working cooperatively with the district’s La Crescent environmental stewardship section and the town of Onalaska, Wisconsin, conducted a compliance inspection to address known encroachments along the Brice Prairie Shoreline located in the Upper Mississippi River Pool 7, near Onalaska, in July.
The Brice Prairie Shoreline is government-owned property managed by the Corps of Engineers. The Town of Onalaska currently holds a 25-year public park and recreation lease for the operation and maintenance of the four mile stretch of shoreline.
An encroachment is the unauthorized use of federal property. Jeff Grow, chief of real estate’s management and disposal branch said, “The intent of curtailing encroachments is to protect the authorized purpose of the land, including the natural resources.”
Grow explained that the general consequences of not adequately conducting these types of comprehensive compliance inspections may result in: unauthorized or private exclusive use of federal lands and assets, which could lead to the degradation of those lands and assets.
The inability to enforce retained federal property rights could lead to illegal activity occurring on federal lands, increased vulnerability to legal actions against the government, potential exposure to environmental violations on federal lands, public and/or personal health and safety concerns, and failure to ensure legal contractual terms and conditions are being met.
“This continued effort will take several years to obtain 100% compliance, but it is our intention to work with the Town of Onalaska to curtail the encroachments and ensure the terms and conditions of the lease are adhered to,” said Grow. “I commend the team’s hard work, dedication, persistence and continued effort to bring the Brice Prairie Shoreline back into a compliant status.”
Geographically, the St. Paul District is the largest of the districts in the Mississippi Valley Division (139,000 square miles or 38% of the division). St. Paul District real estate manages 76,500 acres of fee land, 286,200 acres of easement land, 42,000 acres of federal transfer land, 631 buildings and structures and 575 active outgrants.
The real estate division is responsible to the district commander for staff supervision, assistance, coordination, and review of all real estate activities of the district. These activities include the areas of real estate planning, real estate acquisition, appraisal, management of federal lands (outgrant issuance and renewal, compliance inspections and encroachment resolution), and real property disposal (the process by which federal agencies identify and transfer, donate, or sell facilities and land they no longer need and are no longer mission critical to federal agencies).
The real estate division is vital to supporting the Department of Defense and the Army mission (both civil and military). Real estate professionals manage over 25 million acres in real property assets for the Army and provide technical expertise and business analysis as it relates to acquisition, management, and disposal of real property. Real estate also provides support to U.S. forces during overseas contingency operations, disaster response and recovery support to the nation.
| Date Taken: | 12.02.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.02.2024 10:45 |
| Story ID: | 486407 |
| Location: | ONALASKA, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 11 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Real estate office fosters partnerships to manage federal lands, by Melanie Peterson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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