Overview
- SITLA's board voted Thursday to approve the sale of roughly 50,000–50,600 acres in the Book Cliffs to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources for about $29.8–$30 million, and the transaction is expected to close immediately using funds the Legislature approved in 2025.
- The Division of Wildlife Resources will manage the surface as open habitat with no plans for development and is considering designating the area as a wildlife management area to protect migration corridors and summer range.
- Under the deal, SITLA retains potential mineral and subsurface rights in parts of the parcel so the trust preserves future revenue options while realizing immediate cash for beneficiaries.
- Critics including trust-land advocates say the intra-state sale raises fiduciary and transparency concerns because the land was not offered on the open market and some question whether the trust received full market value.
- SITLA manages millions of acres for public schools and says the Book Cliffs block produced little revenue and was costly to manage, while supporters point to the 2025 $50 million legislative allocation and past federal easements as the policy path that enabled this conservation-focused transfer.