If the deal is ultimately approved, it would be the first major land swap since a proposed San Rafael Swell exchange fell apart in 2002 amid allegations that it was a $117 million taxpayer giveaway.
“There have been 30,000 to 35,000 acres put on the table by both sides and the swap will eventually be organized from that acreage,” said Dave Hebertson, a spokesman for the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration.
The checkerboard of trust lands were set aside in Utah's Constitution with proceeds dedicated to the state's school system. But in many cases the lands held by the administration are surrounded by federal land, making access and development difficult, if not impossible.
Swapping out trust lands makes sense, in that case, and the proposed exchange is one way to make sense of complex land management issues, said Bill Hedden, executive director of The Grand Canyon Trust, which was involved in negotiating the deal.
“This business of SITLA having inholdings in all these proposed wilderness areas along the Colorado River is just crazy,” he said. “Either they lose the value of the asset or they can hold everyone hostage to buy these things out. And BLM is trying to manage one of the most intensively used recreation districts in the country and here are these inholdings that confuse that.”
“We're supportive of the maps that we have seen,” said Scott Groene, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “Overall, by removing these parcels from proposed wilderness areas it is a good thing for wilderness protection and wildlife habitat protection.”
Rep. Jim Matheson and Sen. Bob Bennett introduced legislation last week to seek congressional approval for the exchange. Those bills will almost certainly not be acted on until next spring at the earliest.
An appraisal of each of the parcels on the table will be done, and then the acreage will be adjusted to make certain the lands swapped are of equal value.
The appraisal process is particularly important in light of the failed 2002 San Rafael exchange, proposed by then-Gov. Mike Leavitt to facilitate a national monument in the swell. That deal fell apart when BLM appraisers alleged the federal government was giving up as much as $117 million more than it was getting in the deal.
The allegations prompted investigations by the Interior Department inspector general, who said the process in that exchange was inappropriate and influenced by political pressure. It led to a complete restructuring of the department's land appraisal unit in an effort to insulate the appraisers from political pressure. “It's too bad they ran into that huge pothole that stopped the land exchanges, but if they come out with a good process it would get the whole thing going again,” Hedden said.
Proposed deal swaps land near the Colorado River
l SITLA would give the Bureau of Land Management sensitive lands along the Colorado River Corridor and some near Dinosaur National Monument.
l The BLM would give SITLA potentially valuable oil and gas lands in the Uinta Basin, scattered parcels in the town of Green River, and a plot near the Moab airport that could be developed into a lodge, outfitter or other business catering to tourists.
