NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 23, 2018
CONTACT: Dana Kazel, Communications Manager
218-725-5049 (office) • 218-591-2219 (cell)
Commissioners react to passage of funding for land purchase/exchange
St. Louis County Commissioners are applauding the Congress and President's approval to set aside $4 million in federal funding to purchase 51,000 acres of State School Trust Lands that are located in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA). The funding is included in the federal Omnibus Spending Bill that President Donald Trump just signed.
This funding comes after decades of seeking a solution to address the issue of State School Trust Lands located in the BWCA, and sets in motion the hybrid two-thirds purchase and one-third land exchange plan that the Minnesota Legislature approved seven years ago. Minnesota's Congressional Delegation has helped champion this hybrid plan.
“This long awaited development is good news for the state and for school kids who are the ultimate beneficiaries," said St. Louis County Commissioner Frank Jewell, who has made several trips to Washington D.C. to lobby in support of this provision. “And now, with federal ownership, these same lands will receive a nearly four-fold increase in payments per acre compared to previous payments by the state."
Meanwhile, Commissioner Tom Rukavina commented, "There are still many steps to be worked through in this long process, but at least it's a first step. So this is good news for St. Louis County, as well as Lake and Cook Counties.”
County leaders extend special thanks to Congressman Rick Nolan and U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith for their tremendous help at getting and then keeping this provision in the final federal 2018 Budget Bill.
Currently, there are 83 thousand total acres of State School Trust lands sitting in the BWCA. The Minnesota Constitution requires that School Trust Lands must earn income for the school districts of the state. However, since the passage of the 1978 BWCA Act, these lands were completely surrounded by federal wilderness lands and not allowed to earn any logging or mining revenue for the State School Trust Fund.
Ultimately all state lands within the BWCA will be purchased or exchanged for lands outside the BWCA. These new School Trust Fund Lands created outside the BWCA will immediately be put to productive use, helping earn revenue for schools and children in Minnesota. Last year, more than $55 million in interest from the State School Trust Fund was distributed among all school districts in the state.
###
|
