Superior National Forest Realty Specialist Elizabeth Schleif and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) School Trust Land Administrator Aaron VandeLinde met with the county board May 23, 2013 to discuss the proposed transfer of ownership of 86,000 acres of state-owned school trust lands in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) to the U.S. Forest Service.
The Forest Service is trying to consolidate its land into less fragmented parcels, and the state wants to be able to generate income from more of its land. When Minnesota became a state in 1858, the federal government allotted sections 16 and 36 of every township to the state in order to generate money for schools. This has not been possible for these sections of state land in the BWCA wilderness, however.
An April 29 document produced by the U.S. Forest Service on school trust land in the BWCAW states, “In 2012, the state of Minnesota created a legal mandate for its Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to manage school trust lands to generate the maximum revenue possible for public schools.
“When there is an irrevocable conflict between economic gain and the natural resource, the DNR is required to give precedence to long-term economic return. Within the BWCAW, the state’s mandate regarding school trust lands directly conflicts with the Forest Service mandate, as required by federal law, to preserve and protect the wilderness resource.”
DNR School Trust Land Administrator VandeLinde said the state is looking at the long-term potential of mineral assets outside the BWCAW. The transfer of ownership is likely to include a combination of land purchase and land exchange. VandeLinde said he thinks the state will end up with 25,000-30,000 acres of federal land outside the BWCAW. The state is looking at 43,000 of U.S. Forest Service land being considered in the exchange. The exchange would be done value-for-value rather than acre-for-acre.
The state maintains a school trust fund that currently has $930,000,000 in it, 80 percent which has been generated from mineral royalties. The state holds mineral rights to land throughout the state that it no longer owns.
“I’m excited about the potential for the schools,” Commissioner Sue Hakes said, adding that she also had concerns about the transfer. Some want to make sure the state won’t mine the land it acquires, she said, and some want to reunite mineral rights with surface ownership. She wondered if the state would have fewer “environmental hoops to jump through” on land under its ownership, making mining easier. VandeLinde responded by saying the state has very stringent environmental standards for mining.
The goal outlined in state statute, VandeLinde said, is to maximize revenue using sound economic principles. The same area can be both logged and mined, he said – first you log, and then you mine. He said “Is it in the best interest of the trust?” is the question he asks.
Superior National Forest Realty Specialist Schleif said the Forest Service would like to not have any school trust land left in the BWCAW. The Forest Service document on school trust lands in the BWCAW states, “The Forest Service is interested in opportunities for more efficient resource management through consolidated ownership. The Forest Plan prioritizes acquiring lands within the BWCAW in order to more effectively protect wilderness values.”
Maps of the Forest Service land under consideration for the exchange are posted on the Superior National Forest website at www.fs.usda.gov/ superior.
The process is expected to take about five years. Completion of a feasibility analysis of the proposed land exchange is expected by the end of the year.
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