Public Lands
Land Exchanges
Throughout Utah, parcels of state school trust lands are scattered –in checkerboard fashion—amid federal land, complicating each agency’s management objectives. Matheson has introduced bipartisan legislation proposing a land swap between the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Parcels of state land in Grand and San Juan Counties will be swapped for BLM acres in Uintah County, which hold potential for oil and natural gas. The Utah Recreational Land Exchange Act of 2007 authorizes the exchange of more than 40,000 acres of school trust lands for roughly the same number of acres of BLM land. The terms call for the exchanged acres to be conveyed on an equal value basis. SITLA will continue to share mineral lease revenue produced from federal lands. The acreage acquired by BLM include portions of Westwater Canyon, the nationally-recognized Kokopelli and Slickrock trails, multiple wilderness study areas and some of the largest natural rock arches in the U.S. Matheson said the proposal is fair to the taxpayer, beneficial to Utah school children, mindful of hunting and other public access opportunities and a better configuration for land managers to protect habitat, watershed and recreational values.