MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Minnesota Office of School Trust Lands and the U.S. Forest Service- Superior National Forest have proposed a plan to sell land in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to the federal government to benefit the state's public schools.
According to information from the DNR, the state, U.S. Forest Service and The Conservation Fund (TCF) have been trying to find a way to exchange school trust lands in the BWCAW for lands outside and this process has yet to yield an outcome.
In this new proposal, published on Thursday, the DNR would remove the school trust designation from around 80,000 acres of state lands and those acres would be purchased by the federal government using federal Land Water Conservation Funds.
Officials said this agreement would "uphold Minnesota's fiduciary responsibility" to generate money for the Permanent School Fund and help to provide a continual source of income for the state's K-12 schools.
Since the cancellation of the 2012 land exchange, TCF also wants to sell up to 15,000 acres in the Superior National Forest, outside the BWCAW, directly to the U.S. Forest Service. The DNR said they are also evaluating the land in consultation with the U.S. Forest Service, counties and Tribes to identify land suitable for state acquisition.
Funding will still be needed for the Minnesota DNR to buy the land.
"The state's school trust lands are designated to maximize long-term economic return for the Permanent School Fund and provide a continual source of funding for every K-12 public school district in the state," said Sarah Strommen, commissioner of the Minnesota DNR in a press release. "This important land transaction ensures that the DNR can fulfill its fiduciary responsibility to the school trust. We are pleased to work with the U.S. Forest Service and The Conservation Fund to remove school trust lands from within the BWCAW and acquire forest lands outside the wilderness for the public."
The DNR said Minnesota's school trust lands have provided a reliable source of money for the Permanent School Fund for more than a century, due to activities like mining and logging. The 1964 Wilderness Act and the 1978 Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act limit the state's ability to use the 80,000 acres of school trust lands in the BWCAW as required by Minnesota's constitution, officials said.
“The resolution of this longstanding land management issue is a major win for Minnesota’s public school students,” said Aaron Vande Linde, Minnesota Office of School Trust Lands director. “The project’s culmination will result in millions of dollars deposited into the Permanent School Fund. This investment will support the state’s public education system in perpetuity, fulfilling our fiduciary duty to ensure that both current and future beneficiaries receive maximum economic returns from school trust assets.”
The DNR plans to begin the work of removing the school land trust designation from state lands within the BWCAW, with help from the Office of School Land Trusts.
According to the U.S. Forest Service, the BWCAW is made up of more than 1 million acres, 1,200 miles of canoe routes, 12 hiking trails and more than 2,000 designated campsites.
