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Minnesota has about 2.5 million acres of School Trust Lands that generate money for the state’s schools. Photo courtesty of Minnesota School Trust Lands website
This past week U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) announced that the USDA Forest Service will invest more than $9 million in Minnesota’s School Trust Lands project. The funding is part of a $218 million investment in Great American Outdoors Act projects to conserve critical forest and wetland habitat, support rural economic recovery, and increase public access to national forests and grasslands.
“This federal funding will put the Forest Service on track to complete the multi-year effort to acquire and exchange School Trust Lands in the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), which will help generate revenue for Minnesota’s schools and maintain jobs,” said Klobuchar. “I’ve long supported funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for this purpose, and I look forward to seeing this project through to completion.”
At this time, neither Cook County Auditor Treasurer Braidy Powers nor County Land Commissioner Tim Nelson were certain about how this announcement will impact Cook County.
Minnesota has about 2.5 million acres of School Trust Lands, with most of that land located Aitkin, Beltrami, Cass, Cook, Hubbard, Koochiching, Itasca, Lake, Roseau and St. Louis County.
The state also has one million acres of school trust mineral rights. Money earned from these properties and minerals is deposited in the State’s Permanent School Fund. Funds generated are used to benefit all 331 public school districts in Minnesota as well as 169 charter schools that operate in the state.
Meanwhile, Cook County, Lake County, and St. Louis County also benefit from School Trust Lands located in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
The BWCAW contains about 83,000 acres of School Trust Lands. The USDA Forest Service and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources have been working since 2012 to resolve a long-standing land management dilemma by exchanging Superior National Forest lands located outside of the BWCAW for Minnesota School Trust land located inside the BWCAW.
A Final Analysis Document of that agreement will be available on December 1, 2021.
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