Agency for trust lands may get input

In the wake of public outcry over proposed land sales on eastern Utah's Tabby Mountain and along the Green River, the agency that oversees more than 3 million acres of state trust lands in Utah is considering forming an advisory committee to provide counsel on the state's "sensitive land."

Such sites, says Margaret Bird of the Utah State Office of Education, would include places that have been identified as popular recreation areas or are environmentally fragile. Bird represents Utah's public schools, which are beneficiaries of interest earned on invested profits from such trust land sales, mineral leases and land development.

The new panel would write guidelines to help Utah's School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, the independent state agency that manages 3.5 million acres of the state's trust lands, determine which of its lands might be deemed sensitive, and advise the agency on what it should do with such properties.

Much of the land SITLA oversees is property the federal government granted Utah when the state achieved statehood. The parcels, intended to help fund schools, are scattered around the state, including property in national parks, national forests and in areas administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

The idea for an advisory committee "came about as a consequence from some of the fallout from the Tabby Mountain issue and the Lilly Hole sale, where there was a lot of passion outside the agency," SITLA director Kevin Carter said at a board of trustees meeting Thursday.

When SITLA proposed auctioning off property it owns at Lilly Hole, a popular fishing spot on the Green River, many people worried that a developer would build a lodge or cabins there. In the end, the Division of Wildlife Resources purchased the area and kept it for public access.

Outdoor enthusiasts in Wasatch and Duchesne counties also complained when SITLA considered selling Tabby Mountain, near Strawberry Reservoir.

Before assembling an advisory committee, Carter envisions inviting community and environmental groups to provide lists of what they consider sensitive areas.

With the guidelines written by the advisory committee, SITLA staff and board would winnow suggestions to one list.

SITLA is studying the Colorado State Land Board's process that has protected 300,000 acres of sensitive land.

"They've banked it for the future to keep it off the market for now," Carter said. "It's a dynamic list. Lands come off and lands can get on that category."

"How do you get away from a problem you have when you don't pay attention to the advisory committee?" asked SITLA board member James Lee. "I'm always concerned about tying one's hands."

Carter believes SITLA trustees and staffers must at least listen if they establish an advisory committee. But they "don't have to follow through" on all of the committee's recommendations.

The mandate to identify sensitive lands is part of a new policy approved in August to re-evaluate the surface land sales program.

In the next year, SITLA wants to identify sensitive lands, analyze the current land sales and public auctions, and consider alternatives to disposing of land.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com