A member of the state board that’s set to consider the $100 million sale of Wyoming’s Kelly Parcel to Grand Teton National Park expressed “serious concern” with the proposal Monday.
Megan Degenfelder, Wyoming’s superintendent of public instruction, said exchanging the square-mile state school trust property for developable federal Powder River land would bring “the most benefit” to Wyoming citizens when compared with the proposed $100 million sale.
Degenfelder, Gov. Mark Gordon, Auditor Kristi Racines, Treasurer Curt Meier and Secretary of State Chuck Gray, members of the State Board of Land Commissioners, are scheduled to consider the sale Thursday morning in Cheyenne.
The Legislature authorized the sale, conditions to accomplish it and the $100 million price tag in Wyoming’s budget passed earlier this year. Regardless, Degenfelder said she was “stunned” to learn the matter was to be considered this week.
“This was clearly weeks, if not months, in the making, and I was not notified until the day before it was posted on the agenda of the Board of Land Commissioners,” Degenfelder said in a statement. The state lands office posted the agenda for the special board meeting Friday evening.
“With the land swap, we were not going to make as much money.”
Rep. Mike Yin
“This is a serious concern because over the last year, I have been leading a task force that includes State Auditor Kristi Racines, the Governor’s policy director, and other officials to identify a Bureau of Land Management-owned, developable area in the Powder River Basin to exchange for the Kelly Parcel,” her statement reads.
The Powder River Basin is rich in coal deposits and the heart of Wyoming’s mining industry.
“The task force has identified well over 100,000 acres that could be acquired in the exchange for the 640 acre Kelly Parcel,” Degenfelder, a Republican, said. An exchange would preserve the Kelly Parcel while also “giving us ownership of developable lands that could produce income for generations to come.”
Sale brings bonus cash
Teton County’s Cheyenne representatives who support the sale say the $100 million deal has statewide backing and far outweighs benefits from a land exchange.
“I just want to remind the public this is one that had the vote of a majority of the House, a majority of the Senate,” state Rep. Mike Yin (D-Jackson) said Monday.
The $100 million price tag is some 60% higher than the $62 million appraised value of the 640-acre school trust parcel, which is inside the boundary of Grand Teton. Because the federal government cannot pay more than the appraised value for the Kelly Parcel, private contributors would have to make up the $38 million difference due to Wyoming.
“And now the money has been raised,” Sen. Mike Gierau (D-Jackson) said Monday.
Seen another way, if Wyoming were to undertake a land exchange, that swap would be on a value-for-value basis, Yin said. Therefore, the proposed $100 million sale will bring Wyoming, and beneficiaries of the school trust program, significantly more value than a land swap.
The $38 million over and above the Kelly Parcel’s appraised value “is not what you’re going to be able to [get] with a land swap,” Yin said. “With the land swap, we were not going to make as much money.”
The state can manage and invest a $100 million payment with a rate of return that helps school children and select state institutions that benefit from the trust.
Residents back the plan
Wyoming widely supports the $100 million sale, Gierau said.
“We just need to remind everyone that the state land board took this issue up more than a year ago and proposed a potential sale,” he said. The board heard from more than 10,000 people.
“Resoundingly the citizens of the State of Wyoming want this parcel sold to the National Park Service for the purpose of enlarging a national park, America’s greatest idea,” he said.
Nevertheless, the state land board asked for legislative direction. That came in the budget bill, passed by a majority in both legislative chambers and signed by Gov. Gordon.
The bill contained conditions requiring changes to a proposed plan for managing BLM land in southwest Wyoming. Those conditions stipulated that the state would not sell the Kelly Parcel if the BLM plan called for certain limits on rights of way and mineral leasing.
“The conditions have been met,” Gierau said, referring to the final BLM plan that’s set to be approved soon.
“Now the ask is for the land board to consummate the sale,” Gierau said. “That’s it — that’s all there is.”
Yin sees only good in the proposed sale, especially as the parcel now generates little revenue for schools.
“It’s a win-win for the State of Wyoming, education of Wyoming kids and people of Wyoming,” he said. This is going to be a parcel that never gets developed and that’s accessible for the whole country for all time.”
BEFORE YOU GO… If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to WyoFile. Our work is funded by readers like you who are committed to unbiased journalism that works for you, not for the algorithms.
The post Superintendent throws wrench at plan to preserve Kelly Parcel in Grand Teton appeared first on WyoFile .