SITLA has been a proven success

There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]

In its May 18 editorial, "Utah vs. Utah," the Standard-Examiner's editorial board advocated for legislative action to amend the mandate that governs trust land management in Utah. Before we amend the state Constitution, perhaps some history is in order.

For over a century the state of Utah squandered its school land grant. Lands were given away without any consideration of compensation for the rightful beneficiaries, the school children of the state. Utah's permanent endowment fund, which held the earnings from the land since statehood, was the lowest of all the states. Things had become so bad by the 1990s that lawsuits were being filed. Finally, the state Legislature charged a special task force to examine the issue.

The result of that study, combined with an additional year of study by a "blue ribbon" task force of citizens appointed by the governor, was the passage of the Trust Lands Management Act in 1994. The Act created School and Institutional and Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) and gave it a focused mandate to manage the assets of the trust with the same loyalty that you would expect from a bank that you had hired to administer a trust for your children.

The results have been spectacular. After a century of lackadaisical management, the permanent school trust fund contained about $50 million.

Thirteen years later we have a permanent fund that will soon exceed $1 billion.

Some have said that there are things besides money that are important to our children's education. I wholeheartedly agree. But let's examine that need.

Much has been made of the need for open space. More than two-thirds of Utah is managed by the federal government, and those lands will forever be open space. That's over 36 million acres of open space. Utah has more open space than half of the states have total space. We rank at least third in the nation when it comes to open space.

An interesting comparison is our ranking in per-pupil funding for education, where we rank 51st (after Puerto Rico). Focusing our attention on using the few remaining trust lands to meet Utah's desperate education funding needs is appropriate. After all, no one would consider asking the Division of Wildlife Resources or State Parks to broaden their land management mandates to pursue revenue generation for schools. Their lands were acquired for specific purposes to meet specific needs -- just like the trust lands.

Even with its mandate to focus on revenue for education, SITLA's environmental record is impressive. In fiscal year 2006, SITLA processed 115 applications for uses that had the potential to affect the environment.

Every one of those applications was submitted for review by a committee composed of state and federal government agencies. In 70 instances, those reviews generated comments from agencies; in every instance, SITLA incorporated their suggestions or requests.

In addition, SITLA has worked aggressively to convey sensitive lands out of trust ownership to entities that have conservation as their objective.

When it comes to activities that result in land being set aside for conservation and protection, SITLA has no equal. In the past 10 years, SITLA's activities have resulted in more than half a million acres moving into some form of protective management.

After a century of misuse, the Legislature finally took action in 1994 to right a serious wrong. The results have been astonishingly successful.

There has been some pain, as a culture of free use has been turned around; but very few of the conflicts have been insurmountable.

Now is not the time to change the paradigm and return to the days of everyone first but the school kids.

Carter is director of Utah's School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration.

Comments

Add a comment...

Name:
Comment:
Security Code:	Type the characters to the left in the box exactly as they appear.
Your IP:	38.103.63.60 This address is recorded for security purposes.