Image: US Forest Service

From the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and US Forest Service - Superior National Forest - July 12, 2024

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Minnesota Office of School Trust Lands, and the U.S. Forest Service - Superior National Forest are working together on a strategy to transfer approximately 80,000 acres of school trust lands within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to federal ownership. This decision will benefit Minnesota's public education system.

The state of MN, U.S. Forest Service, and The Conservation Fund (TCF) had been working for years on a proposal to exchange School Trust Lands inside the BWCAW for lands outside of the BWCAW, including approximately 30,000 acres between the Forest Service and the State of Minnesota, and an additional exchange of approximately 50,000 acres between the State of Minnesota and The Conservation Fund (TCF). 

That process, despite being underway for many years, has yet to yield an outcome. Therefore, the DNR recently withdrew its land exchange proposal, originally submitted to the U.S. Forest Service on Aug. 22, 2012, involving school trust lands within the BWCAW. Additionally, the U.S. Forest Service has announced the cancellation of the Environmental Impact Statement for the original exchange proposal.  Find the cancellation notice here: Federal Register.

As a result of the cancellation of the original land exchange, TCF is also proposing to sell up to 15,000 acres (of the original 34,000 acres) within the Superior National Forest proclamation boundary, outside of the BWCAW, directly to the U.S. Forest Service. The Forest Service intends to prepare a categorical exclusion to complete the analysis of the proposed land purchases from the State of Minnesota and TCF. The DNR also is evaluating TCF lands in consultation with the U.S. Forest Service, counties, and Tribes to identify parcels suitable for state acquisition. Funding will be needed for the DNR to purchase TCF lands outside the BWCAW. 

In the new proposal, the DNR would remove the MN School Trust Land designation from approximately 80,000 acres of state lands within the BWCAW. The federal government would then purchase those lands from the DNR using federal Land and Water Conservation Funds. The MN Office of Student Land Trust (OSTL) will work with the MN DNR to initiate the condemnation action of the school trust lands within the BWCAW. Completing the condemnation will legally allow the MN DNR to directly sell the land to the Forest Service.

The agreement between state and federal partners would uphold Minnesota’s fiduciary responsibility to generate income for the Permanent School Fund and help to provide a continual source of funding for Minnesota’s K-12 schools. Upon completion, funds from the sale would be deposited in the Permanent School Fund, which supports 850,000 students in K-12 public education by distributing revenue to every public and charter school in the state. The DNR's website provides more information about the project.

"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. 

“The purchase of these lands will help reduce administrative issues the state and the Forest Service have faced for a long time,” said Tom Hall, forest supervisor, Superior National Forest. 

The state's school trust lands have been a reliable source of revenue for the Permanent School Fund for over a century, from activities like mining and timber harvesting. However, the 1964 Wilderness Act and the 1978 Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act significantly limit the state's ability to use the 80,000 acres of school trust lands located within the BWCAW as required by the state constitution to generate revenue for Minnesota's public and charter schools.