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Excerpts from https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2018/11/05/utahs-latest-land-battle/
School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA), a land-management agency that prioritizes raising revenue for public education above all other considerations, last month canceled James Robert Otts' grazing permit.
After 50 years of grazing this land, Ott has 90 days to clear his animals, fencing and other improvements off two parcels, which sold Oct. 24 at auction for the princely sum of $774,000 to a nonrancher. ?School trust lands are a bit of a thorn in our side. It bothers us we have a lease, and the next thing we know, they sell it," Ott said.
As southern Utah?s scenic lands become more valuable, SITLA has increasingly looked beyond grazing on its holdings that are rich in beauty. But its willingness to evict longtime ranchers is now alienating conservative rural leaders who have long championed SITLA as a driver of economic development.
Garfield County Commissioner Leland Pollock sees sales and development that displace ranchers as an existential threat to rural Utah?s culture and heritage. Pollock said, ?We consider SITLA public lands."
?While grazing is important, we simply cannot let it take precedence over all economic opportunities that present themselves,? SITLA Deputy Director Kim Christy wrote in an email. ?SITLA takes seriously its relationship with that industry. However, [fiscal year] 2018 cash proceeds from grazing yielded $1.332 million to the trust, while all revenue-generating programs combined generated $70.87 million.?
The Otts' Yellow Creek parcels netted SITLA just $128 a year. It would take more than 6,000 years of grazing to match what St. George-based sculptor Lyman Whitaker paid for this land at auction. All of SITLA?s Garfield County holdings support 8,720 animal-unit months, or AUMs. Grazing there nets the agency $48,131 annual, hardly enough to cover a single teacher?s salary and benefits.
Pollock has been a leading voice in Utah?s fight to take ownership of federal land, but he has now become disenchanted with the state?s trust lands administration.
They also proposed an ordinance that would ostensibly obligate property owners to accommodate historic cattle operations. The draft ordinance would require ?any and all privately owned incorporated land? to be used ?for livestock grazing purposes only.?
(On another SITLA transaction)? The proposed resort, named after the nearby community of Ticaboo, sits just a few miles from Lake Powell?s Bullfrog Marina. It represents $200 million in investment, complementing the governor?s economic development initiative to create 25,000 new jobs in rural Utah, Christy said. The project could bring $26 million into the school trust. In contrast, that parcel supports just 24 AUMs, netting about $140 a year from grazing. For good measure, county commissioners also imposed a six-month moratorium on any new glamping operations.
?It is ironic that [Pollock] opposes an opportunity to see lands privatized, as well as being added to the county tax rolls,? Christy said.
School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA), a land-management agency that prioritizes raising revenue for public education above all other considerations, last month canceled James Robert Otts' grazing permit.
After 50 years of grazing this land, Ott has 90 days to clear his animals, fencing and other improvements off two parcels, which sold Oct. 24 at auction for the princely sum of $774,000 to a nonrancher. ?School trust lands are a bit of a thorn in our side. It bothers us we have a lease, and the next thing we know, they sell it," Ott said.
As southern Utah?s scenic lands become more valuable, SITLA has increasingly looked beyond grazing on its holdings that are rich in beauty. But its willingness to evict longtime ranchers is now alienating conservative rural leaders who have long championed SITLA as a driver of economic development.
Garfield County Commissioner Leland Pollock sees sales and development that displace ranchers as an existential threat to rural Utah?s culture and heritage. Pollock said, ?We consider SITLA public lands."
?While grazing is important, we simply cannot let it take precedence over all economic opportunities that present themselves,? SITLA Deputy Director Kim Christy wrote in an email. ?SITLA takes seriously its relationship with that industry. However, [fiscal year] 2018 cash proceeds from grazing yielded $1.332 million to the trust, while all revenue-generating programs combined generated $70.87 million.?
The Otts' Yellow Creek parcels netted SITLA just $128 a year. It would take more than 6,000 years of grazing to match what St. George-based sculptor Lyman Whitaker paid for this land at auction. All of SITLA?s Garfield County holdings support 8,720 animal-unit months, or AUMs. Grazing there nets the agency $48,131 annual, hardly enough to cover a single teacher?s salary and benefits.
Pollock has been a leading voice in Utah?s fight to take ownership of federal land, but he has now become disenchanted with the state?s trust lands administration.
They also proposed an ordinance that would ostensibly obligate property owners to accommodate historic cattle operations. The draft ordinance would require ?any and all privately owned incorporated land? to be used ?for livestock grazing purposes only.?
(On another SITLA transaction)? The proposed resort, named after the nearby community of Ticaboo, sits just a few miles from Lake Powell?s Bullfrog Marina. It represents $200 million in investment, complementing the governor?s economic development initiative to create 25,000 new jobs in rural Utah, Christy said. The project could bring $26 million into the school trust. In contrast, that parcel supports just 24 AUMs, netting about $140 a year from grazing. For good measure, county commissioners also imposed a six-month moratorium on any new glamping operations.
?It is ironic that [Pollock] opposes an opportunity to see lands privatized, as well as being added to the county tax rolls,? Christy said.