Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Dnr Lands Bill topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
DNR lands bill with amendments recommended to pass after committee debate
Summary
The Senate committee advanced the Department of Natural Resources’ 2026 lands bill after adopting several amendments. The bill clarifies appraisal rules, authorizes small additions and transfers to state parks, and allows targeted private sales of surplus state land under legislative authorization.
The committee voted to recommend passage of the Department of Natural Resources’ 2026 lands bill, approving a package of technical and locality‑requested amendments before referring the measure to the finance committee.
Lori Klein, division of lands and minerals attorney at the DNR, told the committee the bill clarifies appraisal requirements when the department leases versus acquires title, sets easement pricing for access to stream and prairie areas, adds roughly 32 acres to Frontenac State Park and about 20 acres to Great River Bluffs State Park for future acquisition, and deletes approximately 19 acres from a park identified in the bill. Sections 6 through 10 would authorize the commissioner to sell specific surplus parcels by private sale when statute or circumstances require it rather than public auction, Klein said.
Committee members adopted a sequence of amendments that corrected a 2024 transfer’s legal description, added two small transfers requested by a city for a community building, and created a pilot program worked out with Itasca County to identify and, under DNR review and guardrails, return certain tax‑forfeited parcels to private ownership. Itasca County Commissioner John Johnson described the pilot as a collaborative effort with the DNR and said the county board had approved proceeding with the concept.
Conservation advocates raised objections to the pilot program in A6. Richard Levy, representing the Grand Rapids/Northern Lakes chapter, warned that private sale of shoreline parcels risks permanent loss of public access and said local stakeholders had only recently had time to review the amendment. The sponsor and DNR witnesses said the amendment includes tribal right‑of‑first‑refusal provisions and sale procedures intended to protect public resources.
Committee discussion included a question from a member about the total acreage proposed for sale under the bill; the sponsor said the measure would authorize selling roughly 30 acres in the parcels listed. After the roll call on the motion, the committee recommended the bill, as amended, to pass and directed it to the Committee on Finance.
The committee recorded the adoption of A3, A2 and A6 and the removal of a contested section (A7) during the markup. The DNR attorney and Minnesota Historical Society staff answered technical questions about the transfers’ legal descriptions and cultural‑resource considerations.
The measure now goes to the finance committee; the sponsor said the bill is intended to balance state land stewardship with pragmatic solutions for county land management under existing statutory guardrails.
