UPDATE: Short-sighted? Well, it’s not so simple. There’s a lot of history, and a lot of attempts to deal with the conundrum of state School Trust land in this wilderness area. Needed more info, so I went directly to the source! Had a good lengthy with DNR rep, and I’ll be updating this. The fed’s page is missing crucial info – see “Press Release” below. Until I get to a thorough review and update, check that out, it answers most of my questions:

The DNR has proposed a sale of our School Trust Lands to the feds The School Trust Lands, and it’s a mess, has been for decades. A major aspect of this is that the state cannot lease or sell off timber or mineral rights within the national park, so it is NOT generating revenue. It’s a quite literal stranded asset, it’s the state’s but the state can’t do anything with it to generate revenue for the trust!

COMMENTS DUE SEPTEMBER 3, 2024 11:59:59 PM (Central Standard Time).

Per the DNR’s site, are “2.5 million surface acres and 1 million additional acres of mineral rights included in the School Trust Land portfolio.” “Funds that are distributed from the Permanent School Fund are determined by student enrollment on a per pupil basis rather than by the concentration of School Trust Lands in a given school district.” However, as above, those parcels within the Boundary Waters wilderness aren’t generating a dime.

There has been an attempt to exchange, through a number of parties, for Potlach landwhere trees just weren’t growing fast enough and Potlatch wants out. Sounds reasonable, but…

In addition to the DNR and the School Trust folks, there’s the feds owning and operating the Boundary Waters Wilderness, and there’s also the tribes’ jurisdiction over 1854 Ceded Territory, which covers most of the area where the School Trust land is. A letter was sent by area tribal governments notifying the DNR that there would be no expansion of School Trust lands within Ceded Territory, no partial or full land exchange in that area.

Ceded Territory covers almost all of the Superior National Forest, plus pretty much doubling the area heading south to Pine County. What’s left? Perhaps there’s that area outside the Ceded Territory to the northwest of St. Louis County into Koochiching County, but … So now what? It seems that outright sale of the land is the only option.

This difficult position is probably why the fed’s page doesn’t make sense, it’s not explained.

From the fed’s page, here’s Phase One of the Plan of DNR and the Minnesota Office of School Trust Lands, CHECK IT OUT:

Phase One of the Plan

The federal Draft Environmental Impact Statement was withdrawn on July 3 2024:

Superior National Forest; Minnesota; Superior National Forest School Trust Land Exchange Project; Withdrawal of Draft Environmental Impact Statement

Huh??? It was completed a long time ago and has sat there moldering. Now it’s history. So what does that mean?

A little birdie told me about this Comment page, and from there I started digging:

COMMENTS DUE SEPTEMBER 3, 2024 11:59:59 PM (Central Standard Time).

From there, there’s a link back to this project page to see what it’s all about (clear as mud), what’s proposed, what land is affected:

School Trust, St. Louis County, and TCF Land Purchase

According to the Press Release, “The SNF anticipates analyzing the comments and environmental effects of the proposed project and making a decision using a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).” That means NEPA will not apply, an Environmental Impact Statement is not necessary, the end. So will comments have any impact? And given no expansion of School Trust land in Ceded Territory, what options are left?

????????????

HERE’S THE PRIMARY DOCUMENTATION

On that project page, you can find these documents – BUT NOT THIS PRESS RELEASE. AGAIN, IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT EXPLAINS PROCESS AND LACK THEREOF, i.e. use of CATEGORICAL EXCLUSION:

… Press Release is the best place to start, and do review the links below. Yeah, it’s a lot, but at least skim, so you can make an informed comment:

School Trust, St Louis County, and TCF Land Purchase (66600)

School Trust, St. Louis County, and TCF Land Purchase Scoping Cover Letter.pdf

School Trust, St. Louis County, and TCF Land Purchase Scoping Package.pdf

Attachment A_School Trust Candidate Parcel Overview Map and Land List.pdf

Attachment B_St. Louis County Candidate Parcel Overview Map and Land List.pdf

Attachment C_TCF Candidate Parcel Overview Map, Index Map, Area Maps, and Land List.pdf

Attachment D_School Trust, St. Louis County, TCF Overview Map.pdf

Attachment E_Minnesota DNR BWCAW Withdraw Letter.pdf

Attachment F_St. Louis County Consideration Letter.pdf