SITLA agrees to sell over 50,600 acres in the Book Cliffs in ‘historic’ nearly $30M deal

SALT LAKE CITY — A massive chunk of public trust land in eastern Utah is slated to remain public under a major transaction.

School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, or SITLA, agreed on Thursday to sell approximately 50,600 acres of land it manages in northern Grand County to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

“I think this is a huge win for the beneficiaries,” said Michael Mower, a senior advisor for Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and a member of the board, after voting to approve it.

The vote came after SITLA’s board of directors held a closed meeting to hash out the final details of the sale, and after Liz Mumford, director of the Land Trusts Protection and Advocacy Office, endorsed the deal, saying it was in the “best interest” of the land trust.

Under the $29.8 million deal, including closing costs, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources will oversee management of land, while SITLA will retain rights to potential mineral resources in some parts of the area, should a market for them arise. The deal is expected to close immediately because of funds already approved by the Utah Legislature.

Utah House Majority Leader Casey Snider, R-Paradise, called the sale a win-win for the state, generating new revenue for public education and allowing SITLA to maintain options for potential future money, while protecting public access to a cherished hunting and fishing location.

“I think it’s a historic moment,” he told KSL. “You’ve got a significant block of land that is a value to the hunting and fishing recreational community. At the same time, you have a considerable asset that SITLA owns on behalf of the school children in this state … and those kids are legally and lawfully compensated.”

SITLA manages more than 3 million acres of land in the state, with funds that go toward public education. However, the 50,600-acre block was difficult to manage because of its rugged, mountainous terrain and remoteness, trust officials explained.

State lawmakers have eyed transferring the land in the Book Cliffs region to wildlife officials in recent years, seeking to ensure the roadless area remains untouched by privatization. They approved a $50 million transfer from a restricted account to help the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources acquire trust lands in 2025, specifically referencing the Book Cliffs area in related documents.

Utah wildlife officials were interested in the land because they consider it to be a key summer range for wildlife in the region, given the area’s remoteness, vegetation and water. It’s part of why the Book Cliffs are a popular outdoor recreation area.

The division and sports groups started acquiring land in the area over the past few decades to ensure its protection. Federal officials helped fund a conservation easement of a 1,344-acre private land area near Nine Mile Canyon in the region earlier this year, adding to some 11,000 acres preserved through the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Legacy program.

Thursday’s agreement, Snider said, helps complete a “puzzle” in the attempt to preserve access. He hopes that it leads to a new wildlife management area, designated land for protecting wildlife habitats.

“The real purpose and impetus in this is to ensure that it is available for public access for the long term. … This is a very big deal,” he said, adding that he believes the agreement highlights how public land policy should be handled because it offers wins for both conservation and mineral markets.