The value of school trust lands
Montana now has more new residents defined as five years or so than old. That means perhaps that someone should tell the story of what is now spoken of as public lands as different from Glacier National Park, Yellowstone Park or state parks spread across Montana. As westward migration began property previously unsurveyed was mapped.
Congress was proactive.
Realizing that schools were a necessary expense, an appropriate amount of acreage was set aside to provide income.
That Montana still has school trust (public) lands today is a tribute to a Montana Value.
We have watched the mentality that has never seen untouched land and immediately visualizes what could be built upon it. Better yet, the land could be sold and the proceeds put into an investment in a casino in Las Vegas and so forth and so on.
Flathead County has the largest amount of school trust (public) land in Montana.
It goes back to the time of President Teddy Roosevelt and the creation of Glacier National Park. School trust lands, suitable for logging lay within the boundaries of the proposed national park.
Congress approved the trade of those lands for similar properties in what has become Stillwater State Forest. The properties were often designated to finance a particular post high school institution which was necessary with the long distances which even now residents find intimidating.
As a Montana value keeping those lands available for multi-uses must be balanced against the need to be certain that they continue to raise funds for their designated purpose. A quick sale and money into a fund isn’t the answer. Special deals where an individual or corporation benefits more than the Trust isn’t either.
The people charged with that awesome responsibility are the five top elected officials of Montana. Sitting for that purpose, they are the Land Board. The Land Board addresses other issues as well, but their primary obligation is use of public lands to meet the needs of the institutions for which they were created.
At the same time protecting the properties well into the future, which the Land Board has successfully done for several generations.
Therefore, Montana has something most states no longer have, school trust (public) lands.
As a multi-generational Montanan, I beg of you who have newly arrived to consider that which you find here fresh and welcoming isn’t a happy accident waiting for your greater wisdom. We knew we could have paved paradise, as the country-Western song says. That isn’t a Montana value.
Donna Maddux is a former Flathead County school superintendent and is the only educator on the state authorized committee to review the interface of the multiuse and state lands. She lives in Whitefish.