State-Fed Land Swap Moves Forward

A U.S. House Committee has passed a state sponsored land swap on to the House for consideration. Carried by Congressman Chip Cravaack, this legislation would finalize a bipartisan, state-passed plan to give the state-owned land in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to the federal government in exchange for giving Minnesota an equal amount federal land outside of the BWCAW.

Approximately 86,000 acres of inaccessible state-owned school trust lands remains locked within the borders of the BWCAW. Due to their location in a federal wilderness area, these school trust lands cannot be managed to generate Minnesota public education funding and job growth.