So if 2400 acres a year of the approximately 3,500,000 acres of school trust land are sold each year, how long until it is ALL gone? Easy math.
These kinds of sales are exactly what the School Trust Lands Board is expected to do to generate maximum funding for our schools. Trust lands were not set up to be hunting ground, but a funding source for the schools.
I don't like seeing public land converted to private. But there have been some very high profile cases of private land turning public as well. The Range Creek acquisition is one such example, even though it wasn't everything I wanted it to be. Still, quite an opportunity for sportsmen to use this land, even though there are some severe restrictions. The book cliffs is another area where some good land deals were done recently. THere are many more if you look.
Lots of these deals were done with the help of RMEF or other conservation groups. They have consolidated scattered public land into larger, huntable sections.
Not all these deals are good. Not all are bad. Just don't paint with too broad a brush. If you actually do the research, most of these deals benefited the state, and some were just plain stupid deals. we have to watch over our elected officials constantly. But deciding as a reflex that everything they do is bad is not useful.
It does make for good internet entertainment, however,
Bil
Bill
