CSKT-State proposed land swap going through formal process

By B.L. Azure

PABLO — The Montana State Land Board recently gave its unanimous blessing on a proposed land exchange between the State of Montana and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The move is a green light for the parties to formally pursue the land exchanges.

The exchange from the CSKT perspective helps consolidate their land holdings within the boundaries of the Flathead Reservation. On the State’s side the acquisition would provide more state public land for use by the public. The State lands proposed for exchange lie within two tribal primitive areas and access is limited.

Rhonda Swaney, CSKT attorney, said there has been some confusion about the size and worth of the parcels. She said the public information about their present value is a best guess estimate done by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. Now that the State Land Board has formalized the process the parties have agreed to hire a third-party to conduct the official appraisals.

There are two State-Tribes land exchanges on going. One on the north end of the Flathead Reservation and another on the south end. The State lands up for exchange are the Section 36 parcels of land known as State Common School Trust Land that are meant to be used to help fund education in Montana and are managed by the DNRC.

“Both exchanges must be value-for-value,” Swaney said. In other words both parties must receive in exchange equal value for what they gave up and they will know that value once the official appraisals are done.

In the south end of the reservation the State owns 640 acres in the Jocko Primitive Area. In the not too distant past the Tribes purchased 512 acres of land near Lincoln from the Nature Conservatory with Kerr Dam mitigation funds. The State and Tribes are proposing an exchange of those parcels.

The land the Tribes own near Lincoln had a contingency provision in sale deed that said the lands must be maintained in its natural state. While the land the State owns in the South-fork Jocko Primitive area have no such encumbrances.

In the north end of the reservation the State will turnover nearly three square-miles of land to the CSKT that it owns near Niarada in the northwest section of the Flathead Indian Reservation.

In return, the Tribes will transfer approximately nine square-miles of land to the State that it owns in the area just off the northwest area of the reservation.

Both parcels of land have an estimated value of around $4 million but they haven’t been officially appraised.

The 1,772 acres of State Common School Trust Land in Sanders and Flathead counties within the Lozeau Primitive Area is valued at $2,200 per acre for an estimated $3.9 million in total value.

The 5,558 acres of CSKT-owned land off the reservation in Flathead and Lake counties north of Niarada is valued at $800 an acre for an estimated $4,446,000 in total value.

“The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation gave an approximate value of the pieces,” Swaney said, adding that the $500,000 difference is based on the unofficial DNRC estimate. “The lands we own are primarily grazing land and the State lands have the potential for future value beyond that.”

The timber on much of the State parcels in the Lozeau Primitive Area were burned during the Chippy Creek fire a couple years ago but will reforested for future uses.

The move consolidates CSKT landholdings on the reservation, a major ongoing goal of the tribal government. And the exchange meets the State’s desire to rid itself of on-reservation land holdings that have restrictions while at the same time increasing its off-reservation land ownership.

In July the Montana DNRC and the CSKT conducted scoping meetings as well as mailings on the proposed land exchange. The effort produced only one public comment. It was from a tribal member concerned about the large difference in acreage totals of the proposed exchanges.

Although it’s not a done deal, the unanimous voice vote bodes well for the proposed land exchanges becoming a reality. Once things are formalized then the DNRC will conduct public hearings and incorporate all the comments into the environmental review process.

The proposed land exchange would provide the State trust with lands that are not encumbered by tribal restrictions such as the three parcels in the Lozeau Primitive Area. Access to two of the three parcels of State trust land is limited to tribal members and others who are granted access by the Tribes. The other has no public access at all.

The majority of the lands proposed for acquisition by the State are accessible by the public via county roads and available for limited motorized public recreation.

Neither party will give up its mineral rights as part of the exchange.

“The Council has had their eyes on the State school sections and wanted to either acquire them by sale or through land exchanges. This is an opportunity for that and the Council doesn’t want to pass up,” Swaney said. “And it has to be value-for-value so that in the end both of the exchange value columns are even.”