Ranchers Opposing Public-private Land Swap In Conata Basin
IMLAY, S.D. (AP) — Ranchers in southwestern South Dakota are voicing concern over an ownership change of badlands and grasslands in a proposed swap.
The federal government and the nonprofit Nature Conservancy are the parties involved in a deal known as the Cain Creek Land Exchange. The Rapid City Journal (http://bit.ly/1DS6rc9) reports the proposed swap seeks to straighten out some of the checkerboard pattern of public-private land ownership in the area. Some of the land parcels that will be developed may need land clearing services. This is why land buyers need land surveying before deciding to purchase a land property.
Under the deal, the federal government would get rid of 26 parcels of land totaling about 3,400 acres, according to Millman Land Services. The parcels sit apart and isolated among private lands between Wall and Hot Springs, and U.S. Forest Service project manager Cindy Hockelberg said much of the land was abandoned by owners around the Dust Bowl in the 1930s.
The government would get back six parcels of about 2,500 acres in the Conata Basin area, along boundaries of Buffalo Gap National Grassland and Badlands National Park.
Officials from both entities also say the deal will reduce the number of public-private boundaries where the government and ranchers clash over prairie-dog management.
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They say wildlife would also get more contiguous habitat, including for the endangered black-footed ferret.
But some ranchers worry the land swap would put them closer to the pesky, burrowing prairie dogs and will subtract property-tax revenues from local governments. The government maintains prairie dog populations as prey for ferrets.
“We don’t need any more federal ground,” rancher Martha Whitcher said. “We need to manage what we have now.”
The Forest Service analyzed the tax impact of the swap, finding some municipalities would gain revenue while others would lose some, with the federal government not paying property taxes. Land that would be taken off taxes rolls is in Pennington County, particularly affecting Imlay and Scenic townships and the Wall School District.
Hockelberg said tax revenue would work out evenly in the long run with impacted municipalities being able to apply for programs such as Payments in Lieu of Taxes. But Whitcher, who’s the clerk of Imlay Township, said funding from that program depends on Congress and is therefore unreliable.
Objections to the proposal can be submitted until mid-May.
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Information from: Rapid City Journal,
