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Legislative commission considers school land swap

A proposed land swap was addressed, but not acted upon, Wednesday by the Legislative Permanent School Fund Commission.

According to its website, the commission is directed “to advise the Department of Natural Resources and the school trust lands director on the management of permanent school fund land, which is held in trust for the school districts of the state and to review legislation affecting permanent school fund land.”

When Minnesota became a state, two sections of land in each township were designated by the federal government to be used for the benefit of public schools. About 2.5 million acres of school trust lands still exist in northeast Minnesota, including about 83,000 acres inside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness where mining or logging are prohibited.

School Trust Land Director Aaron Vande Linde describes his new role

However, a trade has been proposed whereby the federal government would get about 30,000 acres of state trust land within the BWCA in exchange for an equal amount of land in the Superior National Forest. This would allow the state to generate money off the non-federal land that would go toward students.

The potential swap has pitted those who don’t want to see any of the Superior National Forest mined or logged against officials who say the trade could produce more long-term money for the state’s school districts.

Aaron Vande Linde, the commission's new director, said his goal is to sustain long-term financial benefit from those lands.

An environmental impact statement on the exchange is being completed by the U.S. Forest Service with a first draft expected to be available early next year.

The commission also took a look at its preliminary revenue for Fiscal Year 2015 and reviewed its legislative agenda.


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