by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow
The Daily Sentinel
A land ownership checkerboard exists in nearly every state because of an oddity called “state school trust lands.” The federal government granted those lands at the time of statehood, under the Land Ordinance of 1785. Thomas Jefferson’s system divides and records land into townships, each with 36 one-square-mile sections. New states entering the union were each given two sections per township, to be held in trust to fund public schools.
State Land Boards were created to manage those lands; in Colorado four million acres. The board was charged with administering the lands “in such a manner as will secure the maximum possible amount” for the school fund. The Lincoln Institute of Public Lands explains, “That singularity of purpose continues today and distinguishes state trust lands… from other types of public lands.” In other words, these lands are for making money to fund schools.
State lands generate revenue in many ways, primarily through leases for farming, grazing, mining, oil and gas, renewable energy, and research. Some leases also support recreational uses such as guided hunting and fishing, trails, campgrounds, and others.
Colorado voters adjusted that original constitutional language in 1996 because the word “maximum” became controversial. After all, the maximum profit from land would be made by selling it, which the Land Board could do and has done. Today it only owns 2.8 million acres. Also, more money might be made from subdividing and developing than from grazing or energy leases. But selling only generates short-term profits — pennywise but pound foolish. So, the 1996 language replaced “maximum” with a more appropriate standard: “to produce reasonable and consistent income over time.”
