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institutional trusts. The
University of Arizona Trust owns a large amount of timbered land acreage in the Flagstaff area and agricultural lands near Yuma. However, the majority of the acreage in the other individual institutional trusts are rural grazing lands, although some agricultural potential exists.
168:, they were charged with assessing, evaluating, and making recommendations about the land granted by Congress to the State for the Common Schools and other institutions. The commission was to report back to the Legislature with its findings and conclusions by the end of the second Legislative session.
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In the years since statehood in 1912, the state has disposed of, or exchanged, about 1,628,079 acres of trust lands. A total of 9,228,787 acres of trust land remains . Almost all of the lands are under one or more leases for natural resource uses and commercial development purposes. About 87 percent
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Most of
Arizona trust lands are currently used only for livestock grazing purposes. Several hundred thousand acres of these grazing lands have become urban lands as Phoenix, Tucson, and other cities and towns have expanded. The Urban Lands Act, passed in 1981, enabled the trust to capitalize on the
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When school section lands were not available to the State because they had been previously claimed by homesteaders or miners or because they fell within a
Federal reservation or a national forest, park, or Indian reservation, the State was given the right to select an equal acreage of Federal public
183:. All uses of the land must benefit the Trust, a fact that distinguishes it from the way public land, such as parks or national forests, may be used. While public use of Trust land is not prohibited, it is regulated to ensure protection of the land and reimbursement to the beneficiaries for its use.
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The State Land
Department and the system by which Trust lands were to be managed were established in 1915 by the State Land Code. In compliance with the Enabling Act and the State Constitution, the State Land Code gave the Department authority over all Trust lands and the natural products from these
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The
Territory of Arizona was established on February 24, 1863, by an Act of Congress. This Act granted sections 16 and 36 of each township for the benefit of the Common Schools. Endowment of public lands for educational purposes was a practice established by the Northwest Ordinance in 1787. Congress
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goals for citizens here today and generations yet to come. The mission is also to manage and provide support for resource conservation programs for the well-being of the public and the state's natural environment. The State Land
Department is managed by the State Land Commissioner who is appointed
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Since 1990, there have been 11 measures on the ballot to change how state lands are managed and numerous reform attempts in the legislature. These efforts have produced little real change. Proposed reform measures included making it easier to exchange lands with the federal government, funding the
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Most of the acreage chosen during the 1915–1960 era was in central and southeastern
Arizona, and in the checkerboard land area along the railroad across north-central Arizona. As agriculture developed in Arizona, later selections were made in irrigated areas in the Harquahala Valley and the Gila
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These choices were made by the State
Selection Board, which consists of the Governor, State Attorney General, and State Land Commissioner. The Land Commissioner in recent years has been replaced on the Board by the State Treasurer. Most of the selections were made in the 1915–1960 era, with the
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The
Commission concluded that Arizona should not sell its Trust land outright, as other states had done. Instead, it should put the lands to their "highest and best use." The decision to sell or lease the land should be based upon the potential use of each parcel. The Commission recommended the
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Nearly all of the most valuable urban Trust lands around the northern border of the
Phoenix metropolitan area and north and west Tucson are Common Schools Trust lands. The large block of Trust lands on the south and southeast sides of the Tucson metropolitan area is divided amongst the various
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In addition, a 1929 Act authorized an additional 50,000 acres for the Miners’ Hospital Trust. An 1881 Act had already granted the Territory of Arizona about 60,000 acres for the University of Arizona Trust. The total acreage was about 10,900,000. Today, State Trust Land is apportioned among 14
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quickly recognized the value of the land and the importance of public schools to a developing nation. The State Enabling Act, passed on June 20, 1910, allowed the Territory of Arizona to prepare for statehood. In addition to the previously designated sections of land, the
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State Land Department from revenues earned, improved protection of natural resources, To improve the revenues from land sales to urban developers, some have recommended that the State Land Department be allowed to issue bonds or enter into partnerships with developers.
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selection program being finally completed in 1982. Since the State was precluded by Federal laws from acquiring mineral lands, and since the homesteaders had already acquired most of the potential agricultural lands, the State focused on choosing the best grazing lands.
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On May 20, 1912, an act of the First Legislature created the three-member State Land Commission to serve as the temporary Land Department of the State. The members were Mulford Winsor, Chairman; Cy Byrne, Secretary; and William A. Moody, member. Appointed by Governor
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assigned sections 2 and 32 of each township to be held in trust for the Common Schools. The needs of other public institutions were considered by Congress, and through the Enabling Act, more than two million additional acres were allocated for their use.
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In 1998, the Arizona Preserve Initiative fostered the preservation of open space around urban areas through the reclassification of State Trust Land for conservation purposes. The Initiative was later discontinued due to threat of lawsuit.
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Land exchanges in the 1935–1985 era relocated most of the school section lands out of the western deserts and into areas close to Phoenix and Tucson and into better grazing lands in such areas as western Yavapai
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The State acquired its School Sections in Place wherever the land surveys placed them. The State chose the lands acquired in the Indemnity in Lieu Selections, Quantity Grant Selections, and Land Exchange
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at no charge. Butler Valley was set aside for future ground water delivery to urban areas via the Central Arizona Project canal. The Fondomonte lease has been criticized as substantially below-market.
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The mission statement of the Arizona State Land Department is to manage state trust lands and resources to enhance value and optimize economic return for the trust beneficiaries, consistent with sound
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creation of a permanent State Land Department "...in order that the multitudinous detail attached to the State’s varied land interests may have constant attention and to prevent irretrievable loss."
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After acquiring title to the Trust lands, the State traded many of the lands for other Federal or private lands of equal value in order to relocate and block up Trust land holdings.
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large increase that planning and zoning adds to raw land values. Today the Land Department's urban lands lease and sale program is the largest revenue producer for the trust.
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As land surveys were completed by the Federal government, title to four school sections in each township–Sections 2, 16, 32, and 36–automatically passed to the State.
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Since the State Land Department's inception, its missions have been to manage the Land Trust and to maximize its revenues for the
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The State selected the specified acreage of Federal lands for the County Bonds and each of the individual institutional Trusts.
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of the trust lands are in the Common School Trust and approximately 90 percent of the trust revenues go to that trust.
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The State Land Commission has allowed a Saudi company, Fondomonte, to pump unlimited groundwater from its land in the
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454:"The Quarrel between Past and Present: The Economics of Reforming Arizona's Century Old State Trust Land Rules"
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River Valley. The final selections concentrated on commercial and agricultural lands along the
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domain land as indemnity in lieu of the school sections the State should have received.
549:"Saudi firm has pumped Arizona groundwater for years without paying. Time to pony up"
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599:"Why Vanessa Hickman resigned as state land director - Phoenix Business Journal"
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632:"Arizona Gov. Hobbs names directors of regulation, gaming and state land"
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Robyn Sahid (Executive Director - not AZ House confirmed) 2023–Present
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dedicated to the management of state-owned lands and property.
479:"Experimenting with Land Value Capture on Western Public Land"
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Arizona has acquired lands in four types of transactions.
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617:"Governor Doug Ducey Appoints State Land Commissioner"
574:"Fondomonte well rejection will have little impact"
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525:Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection (2011).
689:State public land agencies in the United States
141:Land Grant & Designation of Beneficiaries
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679:Government agencies established in 1912
452:Sonoran Institute, Dan Hunting (2011).
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412:: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
256:Location and uses of state trust land
477:Susan Culp, Dan Hunting (May 2012).
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503:The Trust for Public Land (2017).
46:(as Arizona State Land Commission)
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159:Creation of State Land Department
572:Phillips, Nick (26 April 2023).
547:Lane, Bruce Babbitt and Robert.
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483:Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
293:Arizona State Land Commissioners
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505:"Arizona Conservation Programs"
684:1912 establishments in Arizona
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659:Arizona State Land Department
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97:Arizona State Land Department
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527:"Arizona State Trust Reform"
358:Vanessa P. Hickman 2012–2015
316:William P. Alberts 1937–1941
204:Indemnity in Lieu Selections
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349:Michael E. Anable 1999–2003
313:Charles P. Mullen 1934–1937
187:Methods of Land Acquisition
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674:State agencies of Arizona
361:Lisa A. Atkins 2015–2023
346:J. Dennis Wells 1997–1999
343:M. Jean Hassell 1987–1997
310:Howard J. Smith 1931–1934
301:Rudolph Kuchler 1921–1922
273:Issues and reform efforts
213:Quantity Grant Selections
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352:Mark Winkleman 2003–2009
340:Robert K. Lane 1983–1987
337:Joe T. Fallini 1978–1982
328:Obed M. Lassen 1957–1970
307:Don C. Babbitt 1928–1929
196:School Sections in Place
630:KTAR.COM (2023-01-25).
319:O.C. Williams 1941–1949
304:Vernon Vaughn 1923–1928
99:is a department of the
36:; 112 years ago
325:Rodger Ernst 1953–1957
578:Arizona Capitol Times
355:Maria Baier 2009–2012
553:The Arizona Republic
65:Department executive
322:W.W. Lane 1949–1953
298:W.A. Moer 1915–1920
74:, Land Commissioner
25:Department overview
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166:George W. P. Hunt
115:Mission statement
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52:Jurisdiction
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121:stewardship
72:Robyn Sahid
668:Categories
641:2023-04-19
558:2022-11-03
438:2013-02-27
399:2007-01-09
369:References
229:processes.
105:U.S. state
87:azland.gov
41:1912-05-20
334:1970–1978
636:KTAR.com
583:4 August
532:4 August
510:4 August
488:4 August
462:4 August
408:cite web
130:Governor
251:County.
136:History
128:by the
109:Arizona
103:in the
82:Website
56:Arizona
39: (
30:Formed
457:(PDF)
393:(PDF)
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585:2023
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