The dust-up centered on two issues: whether hunters would be assured access to prime deer and elk habitat in the Book Cliffs that the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) would acquire in the proposed land swap, and how much the state would pay SITLA for hunting and recreation access on 3.2 million acres of trust lands.

"I made it real clear that I wanted the situation resolved," Matheson said, before moving ahead on the land exchange bill.

It took some maneuvering, but SITLA and the state struck a deal that ultimately guarantees that access to the wildlife on the trust lands will continue.

"All in all it was a good agreement for wildlife," said Jim Karpowitz, director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "We're anxious to see [the land exchange] go now."

The school trust lands are scattered parcels around the state that are managed to generate funds primarily for Utah's schools.

Ten years ago, the state Division of Wildlife Resources began paying SITLA $200,000 to open the trust lands to hunters. But with that deal due to expire in September, SITLA came to the state with a new price: $1.3 million.

And if the state wouldn't pay, there would likely be private interests that would, and then charge hunters for access.

SITLA Director Kevin Carter said his agency wasn't threatening the state, but suggested it was "a scenario that we could envision" and one that SITLA would consider.

The state offered $500,000 for the access to the wildlife habitat.

In the meantime, hunters raised concerns about the management of big-game habitat in the Book Cliffs that SITLA was seeking to acquire as part of a 91,000-acre land swap.

The land exchange would transfer 47,000 acres of school trust lands in Grand, Uintah and San Juan counties - environmentally sensitive areas near Arches National Park, Dinosaur National Monument and Corona and Morning Glory arches - to the federal government.

In exchange, SITLA would get about 44,000 acres of BLM land with oil, gas, agricultural and other development, as well as the prime hunting range in the Book Cliffs.

The House approved the swap last year, but it bogged down in the Senate, meaning it would have started over this year.

Matheson, however, told both sides that he wouldn't reintroduce the bill until SITLA the state and the hunters had reached an agreement on both access issues.

"Sportsmen of the state were adamantly opposed to any land exchange between the state and federal agencies until SITLA decided to be a good citizen in the community and find a win-win solution for the school kids and sportsmen," said Don Peay, founder of the group Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife.

On Feb. 16, SITLA and the Division of Wildlife Resources announced they had struck a deal.

The state would pay SITLA $500,000 beginning Sept. 1, and the fee would increase 5 percent over the next decade.

At the same time, SITLA put in writing a guarantee that there would be perpetual access to the wildlife range in the Book Cliffs.

The issues resolved, Matheson reintroduced the land exchange legislation last week. Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, is co-sponsoring the measure. Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch introduced the land exchange bill in the Senate in January.

"We hope that there is recognition that we have worked through these issues and we're ready to move ahead now," Carter said.