School sections: Cash cows or environmental resources
By Linda Bell
Correspondent
Fort Collins has succeeded in consolidating land within the boundaries
of the Soapstone Prairie Natural Area by swapping acreage with the state
land board.
When the city of Fort Collins acquired the Soapstone Ranch as a culturally
and environmentally rich natural area in 2004, the 29 square miles making
up the land purchase did not include six one-mile-square school sections
embedded within the ranch, according to John Stokes, director of the city's
natural resources department.
Soapstone is located just south of the Wyoming border and west of Interstate
25. To add the school sections into the natural area, Stokes said, the
city made a trade late last year with the Colorado State Land Board for
440 acres the city bought in early 2006 for $5.4 million with natural areas'
funds. That acquisition carries a long-term lease with Turf Master Sod
Farms. The city placed most of the land under conservation easement to
maintain a buffer between Fort Collins and Wellington, while reserving
70 acres for the development of up to 20 homes under the conditions of
the easement, Stokes said.
Stokes said the 3,872 acres of school land was valued at $2.3 million,
for which the city land was traded at par value with the exception of the
water rights that conveyed to the land board for an additional payment
of $807,000.
It was a win-win situation, Stokes said. The state land board got a much
more productive piece of land with potential development rights plus a
guaranteed 12-year lease and water rights, while the city filled in the
ownership holes in the Soapstone Prairie Natural Area for contiguous use,
he said.
So how did the school sections get into the middle of Soapstone Ranch?
When Colorado was granted statehood in 1876, the federal government put
in trust to the state approximately 4.5 million acres of land for the specific
purpose of generating revenue for "the support of common schools." The
entire state was platted into townships, and mile sections 16 and 36 in
every township were designated as school sections. This was not unique
to Colorado. Twenty-one other predominantly western states have or had
similar school sections for the purpose of funding state education.
Another example of how the state benefited historically is the Colorado
State Forest. It was created from designated school sections within selected
national forest boundaries. Those sections were held in trust by the Colorado
State Board of Land Commissioners, and the board initiated a land exchange
with the federal government for a contiguous parcel of land. The state
forest was officially established on Dec. 2, 1938, with President Franklin
Roosevelt's issuance of a patent to the state of Colorado for 70,980 acres.
At present Colorado school sections generate about $19 million annually
in interest earnings and leases to the State Board of Education budget,
according to Vody Herrmann, director of public school finance. "With a
$4.8 billion annual state education budget, the school lands account for
less than 1 percent of the total," she said.
After some active selling off of school sections, Colorado voters passed
Constitutional Amendment 16 in 1996 to require "reasonable and consistent
income" instead of "maximum possible amount" from the school trust lands.
At present an estimated 300,000 acres are in "stewardship trust" for public
use and the preservation of long-term benefits and returns to the state.
In northern Larimer County, a number of school sections are leased by the
Colorado Division of Wildlife as hunting areas during the winter months
then leased during the summer by ranchers for grazing, according to Jim
Jackson, DOW regional wildlife officer.
In more developed areas, school sections often make convenient places to
build new schools or are used to trade for land more appropriately located.
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