| Natural
beauty, recreational opportunities, and a desirable
quality of life are driving unprecedented growth throughout
the West. There has also been a shift to more
diversified, knowledge-based economies across the region.
This growth and economic shift has brought increasing
prominence to state trust lands, an often misunderstood
category of public land ownership in the United States.
Congress granted state trust lands to
newly organized states that entered the Union to support
essential public institutions. While many state
trust lands have since passed into private ownership,
the remaining 46 million acres — 40 million acres
of which are in the nine western states of Arizona,
Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah,
Washington and Wyoming — represent a significant
part of the Western landscape, spanning the forests
and mountain ranges of the Inter-Mountain West and the
Pacific Northwest, the grasslands and rich farmlands
of the Midwest, and the arid deserts of the Southwest.
Unlike other public lands, most state trust lands are held in trust for designated beneficiaries, principally public schools. State trust managers lease and sell these lands for a diverse range of uses to meet their fiduciary responsibility, generating revenue for the designated beneficiaries, today and for future generations.
While there has been financial success with traditional management practices of state trust lands, including farming, ranching, logging and mining, many trust land managers are experimenting with innovative and diverse management practices to respond to challenges in a changing landscape while honoring the unique financial obligation of these lands. For example, rapid growth has led some trust managers to explore residential and commercial development opportunities on trust lands.
At the same time, the changing landscapes, economies and demographics of the West mean that many communities increasingly view state trust lands as public assets that have value for open space, fish and wildlife protection and recreation. As a result, developers, industry and business leaders, conservationists, neighboring community members and others have become increasingly interested in the use of these lands, in some cases resulting in increased conflict over state trust land management decisions.
In an effort to better accommodate these community interests and needs within the context of their fiduciary duty, trust land managers across the West have begun to explore collaborative approaches to the planning and management of trust lands. A promising tool for state trust land management, collaborative planning engages diverse stakeholders to reduce conflict, provide creative solutions that meet the needs of many people, and produce enduring results that can yield higher value to the trust.
Whitefish Neighborhood Planning
Process – Land Use Planning for a Growing Montana
Community
The Montana Department of Natural Resources
and Conservation recently completed a collaborative,
community-based land use planning process in the town
of Whitefish, a gateway community to Glacier National
Park.
Traditionally a railroad and logging community,
the town has grown rapidly over the past few decades,
becoming a resort destination and shifting to a service-based
economy that relies on the natural and scenic surroundings
of the area.
The state trust lands in the area, currently
managed for timber production, are under increasing
pressure for development, as well as for the preservation
of recreational and conservation uses that contribute
significantly to the local economy and its growth potential.
Because of the controversy and the high political stakes involved with the potential development of these lands, the Board of Land Commissioners engaged a diverse group of community stakeholders to develop a Whitefish State Lands Neighborhood Plan. Over the course of 18 months and a variety of challenges, the State Board of Land Commissioners, town of Whitefish and Flathead County approved the Whitefish Area Neighborhood Plan in 2004.
The plan strongly reflects the community's
concerns by allocating only a small amount of land for
development in the near term. It proposes to develop
new revenue generation mechanisms that will increase
value to the trust while preserving the lands for traditional
uses (such as timber production) or to identify disposition
strategies that will result in the conservation of the
lands.
Photo by Eirin Krane.
View of the Castle Valley and Castleton
Tower from the La Salle Mountains in Utah..
|
Castle Valley Planning Process
– Conserving Trust Land in Utah's Distinctive
Landscape
The Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) engaged in a collaborative, community-based land use planning process in the rural community of Castle Valley, located in the beautiful red rock desert of southeastern Utah that includes 4,500 acres of state trust lands.
When SITLA decided to auction state trust land at the base of Parriott Mesa, one of the prominent red rock geological features in Castle Valley, a group of concerned residents came together to represent the conservation interests of the town. The group engaged in a planning process with SITLA and the town government for the appropriate development and conservation use of these trust lands that would preserve this small community’s quality of life.
Over the next several years, the community and SITLA worked through challenges to achieve SITLA’s goal of generating revenue for the beneficiaries and the community’s goal to maintain the beautiful natural landscapes surrounding Castle Valley. SITLA sold 700 acres of trust land in Castle Valley for conservation use, and there is a land exchange pending with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the remainder of the lands owned by SITLA in the Valley. If the land exchange is approved, the BLM will manage the land in Castle Valley for conservation use.
Natural resource management in the West is viewed increasingly within the context of natural ecosystems or landscapes, but multi-jurisdictional governance and diverse land tenure do not always align well with natural systems. Creative planning approaches that will result in value-added outcomes must build on participant expertise and skills to enhance any one agency’s or organization’s efforts to accomplish its mission.
As the West continues to grow and shift
economically, state trust land managers will face increased
scrutiny regarding land use management activities.
While the use of collaboration in natural resource management
decision making has received increased attention and
application, the benefits and costs remain open to discussion
while collaborative skills vary greatly among individuals,
organizations, and agencies.
Nonetheless, trust land managers throughout
the West are engaging in the collaborative planning
process. These experiences suggest that that process
will remain a valuable tool to help trust managers effectively
involve stakeholders in trust decisions that meet trust
responsibilities and fulfill broader public interests,
today and for future generations. |
