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Land Acquisition Review Committee

The Agency’s Land Acquisition Review Committee (LARC) was created in 1972 for the purpose of developing a coordinated unified agency response to various land offers. LARC is an advisory committee to the Secretary of the Agency and develops recommendations on proposed acquisitions that are then forwarded to the Secretary and Commissioners for an official agency response. LARC is composed of 9 members including two representatives from the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, two from the Department of Fish and Wildlife, two from the Department of Environmental Conservation, one from the Agency's Administrative office, and two from the Agency of Transportation.   On average, LARC reviews up to 100 land offers each year - most of these being proposals to sell land to the state. In reviewing these proposals, LARC considers the parcel's size, location, access, and any resource values in issuing a recommendation. Only a very small percentage of the properties that come before LARC end up as a high priority for state acquisition and are actually pursued by the Agency. A majority of land offers are never completed because they fail to meet the qualifications for state ownership or cannot be pursued due to funding limitations. LARC considers the priorities and criteria identified in the 1999 ANR Lands Conservation Plan when making recommendations for proposals. Current acquisition priorities include protection of the Long Trail corridor, Lake Champlain shoreline (including wetlands and islands), other water features including stream corridors and undeveloped lakes and ponds, critical wildlife habitat, state park additions, and natural areas.