State-federal land swaps are not uncommon

Although few details are available about Gov. Larry Hogan’s proposal to trade park land in Western Maryland for federal property in Prince George’s County to make way for a new Washington Redskins stadium, the concept of a land exchange is not a new one.

If Hogan’s deal comes to fruition, Maryland would take over 300 acres of the federally owned Oxon Cove Park in Prince George’s County for a new stadium. In exchange, the state would relinquish parkland in Western Maryland to the federal government to expand Civil War battlefields.

Hogan did not reveal the actual site in Western Maryland the state would give up. A spokesman for the Department of the Interior said in an email the agency agreed to listen to the state’s ideas, but declined to comment specifically on the potential for a Redskins’ stadium deal because no finalized proposal has been made.

It is fairly common for the federal government to exchange lands with states, local governments and Native American tribes, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of the Interior said in an email. The government also exchanges land with private entities.

The transactions do not always occur on an acre-for-acre basis; stakeholders also consider factors such as monetary value, accessibility and proximity to other public or privately owned land, the Interior Department’s spokesman said.

“The Oxon Cove example is a bit of an anomaly — simply because we know very few details and no one seems to be able to get more details from the National Park Service — which is odd,” said Ani Kame’enui, legislative director for the National Parks Conservation Association, in an email.

Land exchanges are far more common in the western United States, where the majority of land in some states — nearly 80 percent of Nevada, for example — is federally owned.

In Maryland, 3.1 percent of the state’s land was owned by federal agencies in 2017, according to the Congressional Research Service. — Sarah Meehan