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Minn. bill would bar sale of school trust land in Boundary Waters, push for land-for-land trades
Summary
Representative introduced HF 1425 to prohibit sale of state-owned school trust lands inside the Boundary Waters and require trades consistent with cited federal law. State trust and conservation witnesses urged selling to the U.S. Forest Service to generate education revenue; the committee laid the bill over for possible inclusion.
Representative Scraba introduced House File 14‑25 on behalf of constituents in northern Minnesota, saying the bill would prohibit the sale of state-owned school trust land inside the Boundary Waters and require the state to pursue land-for-land exchanges consistent with the federal law he cited.
"So basically what public law 80 eight-five 77 states is it has to be a trade, not a sale, a trade," Representative Scraba said, reading language he said came from a federal wilderness act. He described school trust revenues from mining near Minntac and said a small trade could preserve those revenues for local communities.
Aaron Vandelein, director of the Office of School Trust Lands, testified in opposition. He said the office’s fiduciary duty under state law and the Minnesota Constitution is to secure the maximum long-term return for the…
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