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SALT LAKE CITY — Board members of the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration held an emergency session Friday to discuss what to do about 109,000 acres of school trust lands contained within the new Bears Ears National Monument.
After a long, closed-door discussion, the board ultimately decided not to act, citing lack of information.
Tom Bachtell, SITLA's vice chairman, said the board had yet to "receive and comprehend the information necessary" to make an informed decision in the interest of the trust's beneficiaries regarding a land swap.
The board's inaction came the same day a group called Stewards of San Juan sent a letter to SITLA's board of trustees, Gov. Gary Herbert, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, imploring a halt to any actions related to a potential land exchange with the Bureau of Land Management.
"The Stewards of San Juan stand with our elected city, county and state officials as well as two local Native American tribes who will be asking the incoming administration to overturn this designation," the letter reads. "That is why it is extremely important to us that no land exchange negotiations take place between now and Jan. 19, as requested in the proclamation."
Related:
Forest Service, BLM begin outreach over future plans for Bears Ears National Monument
Hunters, hikers, ranchers and others face uncertainty about allowed activities on the new Bears Ears National Monument, even as the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management begin the process of establishing a management plan.President Barack Obama's Dec. 28 presidential proclamation that set aside 1.35 million acres in San Juan County for the Bears Ears National Monument directs Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to explore the possibility of entering into a memorandum of understanding with the trust lands administration on the terms of the exchange and report to Obama by Jan. 19 regarding the "potential."
That rushed deadline angered the San Juan group.
"For President Obama to ask that the secretary of interior deliver a memorandum of understanding regarding the potential for these land exchanges by one day before he leaves office is more than just illogical, it is sabotage and an affront to the schoolchildren and teachers of Utah," the letter reads.
Merri Black Shumway, a member of the group from San Juan County, told the SITLA board that with so many of Utah's elected officials working to overturn the designation, it is "premature" to consider any land exchange.
Historically, any land exchanges between the federal government and the school trust lands administration take years to complete — and require congressional action. The trades are complicated, based on protracted negotiations stemming from valuation of property.
The Utah Recreational Land Exchange was initiated in 2005 and not completed until 2014.
