S. 1350 would expand the boundaries of the Talladega National Forest in Alabama to include approximately 50,000 acres of nonfederal land. The bill also would authorize the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to acquire that land through donation, exchange or purchase from willing sellers and require the department to manage it as national forest land.
CBO is unaware of any pending negotiations between the federal government and landowners to acquire nonfederal land within the proposed expansion area in the near term. On that basis, CBO estimates that enacting S. 1350 would have no effect on the federal budget. If USDA were to acquire land within those boundaries, CBO expects the cost to administer the additional acreage would not be significant.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Ann E. Futrell. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
