Managing State Trust Lands Fiduciary Duty in the Changing West

Montana Trust Land

click map to enlarge	Montana Trust Land Management Division Department of Natural Resources and Conservation 1625 Eleventh Avenue P.O. Box 201601 Helena, MT 59620-1601 406-444-2074 Tom Schultz, Division Administrator
Of Interest	Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund, Focus on Montana State Lands, May 2006 Montana Trust Lands and Education Funding
State Resources	Montana Trust Land Management Division, 2005 Annual Report Trust Land Management in Montana Montana FY 2005 Revenues
Current Land Holdings	5.2 million surface acres; 6.2 million subsurface acres (89 percent of original land grant of 5.9 million acres)
Uses	agriculture, grazing, timber, mining of oil, gas, coal, and minerals, and land sales for commercial development
Primary Revenue Source	renewable resource leases for surface uses
Trust Requirements	Lands are held in trust pursuant to the state enabling act and state constitution, requiring revenues from the land sales be placed in a permanent fund and that the “full market value” be obtained for any land disposal. Unique to Montana, the constitution imposes a public obligation on the state as the land manager to protect and enhance the inalienable right of all Montanans to a clean and healthful environment. Lands are managed by the Trust Land Management Division of the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), State Board of Land Commissioners, which is made up of five elected officials (the governor, secretary of state, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, and state auditor), and led by the director of DNRC who is appointed by the governor, subject to Senate confirmation, and serves at the pleasure of the governor.
Beneficiaries	common schools universities a school of mines normal schools agricultural schools schools and asylums for the deaf, dumb, and blind public buildings higher education