Managing State Trust Lands Fiduciary Duty in the Changing West

New Mexico Trust Land

click map to enlarge	New Mexico State Land Office 310 Old Santa Fe Trail Santa Fe, NM 87501 505-827-5760 Patrick H. Lyons, Commissioner of Public Lands
Of Interest	New Mexico Trust Lands and Education Funding
State Resources	New Mexico State Land Office, 2005 Annual Report Trust Land Management in New Mexico New Mexico FY 2005 Revenues
Current Land Holdings	8.9 million surface acres; 13 million subsurface acres (68 percent of original land grant of 13 million acres)
Uses	grazing, mining of oil, gas, coal, and minerals, and commercial leases and development
Primary Revenue Source	oil and gas revenues and royalties
Trust Requirements	Lands are held in trust pursuant to the state enabling act and state constitution. New Mexico has one of the most restrictive trust management requirements: trust lands and their natural products may be sold only to the “highest and best bidder at public auction;” all lands and leases must be appraised at their “true value” before being offered; and lands cannot be disposed for less than the appraised value. Lands are managed by the New Mexico State Land Office under the direction of a commissioner of public lands who is elected by the citizens of the state and is advised by a State Land Trusts Advisory Board, composed of seven stakeholders appointed by the commissioner with the advice and consent of the Senate.
Beneficiaries	common schools legislative, executive, and judicial public buildings penitentiaries insane asylums schools and asylums for the deaf, dumb, and blind miners’ hospitals normal schools charitable, penal, and reformatory institutions agricultural and mechanical colleges a school of mines military institutes county bond payment (once repaid, grant is passed to common schools trust)