PLT. It's on in ID.

[elkduds]

Billionaire knocking as Idaho governor, officials vote to auction Teton Valley ranch land

TETONIA, IDAHO — Nick Beard’s dad began leasing 160 acres of state land near their Tetonia home in 1992, when Beard was 5 years old. Beard, a fifth-generation homesteader, helped

www.jhnewsandguide.com

 

[Treeshark]

I think you may be misrepresenting this as a parallel to transferring Federal public land- it isn’t.

This is Idaho State Endowment land that has been squatted on for years. Now Idaho is considering selling it. Not sure I see a problem with this one.

 

[elkduds]

I posted in the interest of showing some of the ways the succulent sausage of PLT is made.

"Tull [likely instigator of the sale idea to legislators, no relation to Jethro] donated $10,000 to Idaho Gov. Brad Little in 2021 and $100,000 to the “Idaho Victory Fund,” a conservative political action committee that has donated to Little, in 2022. He donated another $25,000 to “Friends of Brad Little,” another political action committee, in 2023. As in Wyoming, where Gov. Mark Gordon is a member of the State Board of Land Commissioners, Little sits on the Idaho land board along with the state’s other top elected officials.
Tull donations are not a conflict of interest, Miller said, because the parcel will be sold through an open auction, as are all state trust lands.
“That can drum up some good competition, and folks can get outbid, and that’s always a good thing for the endowment,” Miller said."

 

[Treeshark]

I’m curious about the “5th generation homesteader” description in the article. That’s always a bit of a red flag anytime you see someone mention generations (as if it matters).

How long has this family been leasing the land in question? Was it open for public use during that time?

 

[nrpate05]

It is an interesting process. Tull just told the Land Board that he was interested and they quickly voted to sell it? Would it be the same if I expressed interested to buy it? Certainly seems like a political favor. I feel for the rancher, and I'd rather see him on it, but he also had to understand that this was a growing possibility.

 

[TheTone]

A funny experience is saying public land to an Idaho Department of Land employee and watching them almost in disgust and as a reaction say back endowment land. The sooner Idahoans realize they have almost no say in the management of these lands and the states only real concern is how to make money on them the better. Seeing them sold off and the resources on them stripped is just the reality of state lands here

 

[rogerthat]

All the ranchers in Prairie and Garfield Counties in Montana that think the feds should sell their lands need to read this article. This is how I envision it would shake out for them too.

 

[44hunter45]

A funny experience is saying public land to an Idaho Department of Land employee and watching them almost in disgust and as a reaction say back endowment land. The sooner Idahoans realize they have almost no say in the management of these lands and the states only real concern is how to make money on them the better. Seeing them sold off and the resources on them stripped is just the reality of state lands here

We've won some fights. Like the Payette Lake shore for Clearwater County PotlatchDeltic land swap a couple of years ago. That took a full mobilization from the BHA.
I don't think this one has any chance of being stopped. Not sure I think it should.

We could just say no rich bastard should ever be able to use their money for anything we don't like. Just keep repeating that and see if it becomes fact. But what if I won the lottery and became a rich bastard too? (Which I don't play.)

For the benefit of those not local to @TheTone and me, there is a rich guy buying up tons of prime hunting land from private holders just up the road from me. He will eventually lock out public access to a lot of public we locals have hunted for time untold. He is building a fugly McMansion which you can see from the entire view shed. The stated intent is to entertain hunting guests. Suck much? Damn right it does! But he has the money and willing private sellers. It is what it is.

Reading this article - "5 generations" of land use for $900/year or less sounds like they got a good deal. They wrongly assumed they would have it in perpetuity. They might have been working toward acquiring that land too in all that time.

I grew up ranching without the benefit of grazing allotments or "undeeded" land. We did buy an adjacent landlocked 40 from BLM under the Homestead Act. It was being grazed by our neighbor. My dad submitted a sealed offer with an affidavit to prove up the land. We fenced it and cleared it of brush. We worked our asses off on that piece for a few years before they deeded it. The BLM agent inspected it regularly. FWIW - That's the only thing we ever had from the feds.

This history makes me less sympathetic to ranching families who have enjoyed access to a fatter teat.

 

[Treeshark]

This history makes me less sympathetic to ranching families who have enjoyed access to a fatter teat.

Agreed. Sounds to me like they were squatting (albeit legally) for decades.

 

[TheTone]

Agreed. Sounds to me like they were squatting (albeit legally) for decades.

My assumption is this is rich vs significantly richer. You don’t go back generations in Teton valley and having owned lots of land without acquiring wealth over time

 

[idelkslayer]

"But four generations ago, Beard’s family owned the vast majority of the land. People used to call the area “Beardville” and most of the land was agricultural."

So, it's ok for his family to sell off the land to later be developed but the state can't sell its land because, Beard gets a cheap lease on it right now? And in his mind it's everyone else that's selfish?

 

[Treeshark]

This thread is a good example of caution for the “not one acre” crowd.

This issue often isn’t as black and white as it is portrayed.

 

[44hunter45]

This thread is a good example of caution for the “not one acre” crowd.

This issue often isn’t as black and white as it is portrayed.

There is nuance to everything. In my mind "Not One Acre" has never been about small deals that make sense. But every deal needs to be publicly reviewed and make obvious sense.
I do not believe in Santa though. Sometimes shit deals happen.

Endowment lands follow different rules, but rules nonetheless. At the simplest level, Idaho State Trust lands are owned by the beneficiaries of the trust. IE the citizens of Idaho. There may be some subdivisions of specific acreages to specific beneficiary groups, sure.

The real lessen here for me is that this is the future if Federal lands are ceded to the states. State Land managers in the Mountain West are under tremendous pressure because, more and more, the lands they manage are intrinsically worth more than they can generate by traditional uses. I do not see any path forward that does not bring us to rich men north of Driggs.

 

[Matthew57]

To me this is another story that confirms transferring federal land ownership to the states is a bad idea.

 

[Treeshark]

To me this is another story that confirms transferring federal land ownership to the states is a bad idea.

I’m not sure this has much of a connection to the federal land transfer hypothetical. Very different circumstances.

 

[Matthew57]

Why does it not? Like others have mentioned, in Idaho state land is considered "endowment land" and needs to be a money maker, or else it's likely to be disposed. Thus, if more land is transferred to the state of Idaho, the more likely it will be sold.

 

[Treeshark]

Thus, if more land is transferred to the state of Idaho, the more likely it will be sold.

That would be up to the residents of Idaho in that hypothetical scenario. There is no national law that mandates that.

 

[Matthew57]

That would be up to the residents of Idaho in that hypothetical scenario. There is no national law that mandates that.

What kind of review/public input process is there where the citizens of Idaho can all weigh in on this particular sale?

 

[Treeshark]

What kind of review/public input process is there where the citizens of Idaho can all weigh in on this particular sale?

The best kind of review process: voting for or against representatives that support (or don’t) the citizen’s best interests.

 

[Matthew57]

The best kind of review process: voting for or against representatives that support (or don’t) the citizen’s best interests.

lol, okay