HELENA — Montana’s top statewide elected officials have approved a change in how the state considers proposals to trade parcels of public trust land.
The state Land Board – which includes the governor, secretary of state, attorney general, state auditor and superintendent of public instruction – voted to set up the new procedure at a meeting last Monday.
“We're going to do good things under this policy, and it's about bringing Montanans together to do good things – to open up public lands, to deal with the landlocked parcel issue and to raise more revenue for the school trust,” said State Auditor James Brown.
(Watch the video for more on how the new policy will work.)
The current policy has been in place since 2004. Brown said his office has been working on the new language for months.
The Montana Constitution gives the Land Board responsibility for managing the roughly 5.2 million acres of state trust lands. One of their primary goals is to use the land to produce revenue that supports public schools, state universities, Montana State Hospital and other facilities. That revenue comes from sources like timber sales, grazing and mineral leases and real estate development.
State law says leaders can exchange parcels of existing trust land for other property, as long as it’s of equal or greater value, has similar access to water and will produce equal or greater revenue. In many cases, land swaps are intended to consolidate fragmented areas of public land into something more usable; trust lands are often found in checkerboard patterns because of how they were initially distributed, and some parcels are essentially inaccessible because they’re surrounded by private land.
Under the state’s existing policy, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation reviews any proposals for a land exchange – and the department director can determine they don’t comply with state standards before they go to the Land Board for consideration. That means the board doesn’t hear every proposal.
In the new procedure, DNRC will do an initial review of proposed land swaps, then forward them on to the Land Board for a preliminary decision. The board will be able to accept or reject the proposals, and the department will then do full analyses on those that move forward.
“I think this is a great proposal,” said Attorney General Austin Knudsen. “I think this puts the power back where it needs to be, which was with the five of us right here, and not inside the bureaucracy.”
During last week’s meeting, some people spoke in opposition to the new policy, particularly its suggestion that applicants and DNRC should bring in independent consultants to do some of the initial work. They argued the system could benefit landowners at the expense of the broader public.
“By injecting big moneyed consultants working for both parties, speeding these up, and removing the DNRC as the first filter, it's more likely that one-sided and self-serving proposals will be approved,” said Kevin Farron, representing the Montana Wildlife Federation.
But others said the concerns opponents raised were already addressed in the new procedure – for example, Brown said the existing rules already allowed the use of consultants. Supporters said now, the public doesn’t find out about proposed exchanges until DNRC signs off on them, so this structure would give them a chance to be heard earlier.
“I would not be standing here today if I didn't believe that this policy as it's being proposed enhances transparency, that it increases public participation in land exchanges,” said Clayton Elliott, representing Montana Trout Unlimited.
During the meeting, Gov. Greg Gianforte said the idea behind the new policy was good, but he thought the public hadn’t had enough time to look over the full language.
“In view of the scope of the changes, I think it's important that we ensure sufficient public review and input to get to the right conclusion for Montanans,” he said.
Gianforte proposed delaying final consideration on the policy for 30 days, but the board voted that motion down 3-2. Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen supported Gianforte’s motion, while Brown, Knudsen and Superintendent of Public Instruction Susie Hedalen opposed it.
Gianforte abstained from the final vote on the new policy, while the other four board members voted in favor.
