REGIONAL—The Superior National Forest is seeking public comment through Tuesday, Sept. 3, on its proposal to purchase approximately 80,000 acres of state school trust lands located within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from the state of Minnesota. The comment period is part of the forest service’s scoping process under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, however the decision is expected to be made under a categorical exclusion, which will eliminate the need for extensive environmental review.
The transfer of the trust lands to federal ownership will resolve a decades-old land management issue that stems from the creation of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which greatly restricted the state’s ability to access its trust lands within the wilderness boundaries. 
The state of Minnesota recently withdrew its request to address the issue through a land exchange, and the forest service canceled the school trust land exchange environmental impact statement as documented in a Federal Register Notice dated July 12, 2024. 
With the proposed acquisitions, the federal government would purchase approximately 80,000 acres of school trust lands, approximately 3,200 acres of tax-forfeit St. Louis County lands within the BWCAW and approximately 17,000 acres of lands located outside the wilderness held by The Conservation Fund, a national nonprofit.
The proposed purchases are the next step after the cancellation of the school trust land exchange, which was originally proposed by the DNR in 2012. The purpose of the scoping period is to inform the public of the proposed action and to solicit public comments. The scoping package and links to comment are available at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/superior/?project=66600. The forest service will also be hosting two open houses to take input on the proposal. Those include an in-person event set for 4:30-7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 28. A virtual open house will be held on Thursday, Aug. 29, from 4-6 p.m. The link is available in the scoping package.
 “The purchase of these lands will help reduce administrative issues the state, St. Louis County and the forest service have faced for a long time,” says Tom Hall, supervisor of the Superior National Forest, “and the purchase of The Conservation Fund lands will offer approximately 17,000 new acres of public land within the Superior.”  
 The lands acquired inside the BWCAW would be managed as wilderness under the BWCAW Act, and The Conservation Fund lands acquired inside the forest boundary would be managed for multi-use purposes, including public recreation, in accordance with the current forest plan. Approximately $50 million in Land and Water Conservation Fund funding is currently available for the forest service’s proposed purchase.