Agricultural News
Conservation Improvements Maximize Value of School Land Leases Ahead of Auctions
Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:05:50 CDT
The annual school land lease auctions are rapidly approaching and the secretary of the school land office, Harry Birdwell, says officials are doing everything they can to preserve this crucial income stream for public education. Birdwell spoke with Radio Oklahoma Network's Farm Director Ron Hays about their ongoing efforts. (You can hear the full interview by clicking the LISTEN BAR at the bottom of this story. Birdwell also appears on "In the Field" about 6:40 a.m. Saturday on News 9.)
"We made the commitment as an agency that we were going to do more to properly conserve the land, more conservation improvements and terracing and going in and developing water resources and digging new wells and dredging out silted ponds," Birdwell said.
"And another new thing that is so important, I think, to our state is if you look at the number of acres of productive land throughout the state that are being encroached on by red cedar infestations, that's really taking away from grazing and cropping lands around the state. So, we've begun a program on our land to remove, in areas of the state where infestation is worst, a lot of cedars because that will return the land to productivity. Those red cedars take an awful lot of water that would otherwise be productively used in growing vegetation and cropping."
He said the land office makes an assessment of the various lands it wants to improve and, in some instances, borne the costs for improvements. It has also worked with lessees who want to make the improvements themselves in return for lower lease fees. Birdwell says the response from lessees has generally been positive.
He says one of the improvements they are asked to make most often deals with water. Especially with the ongoing drought, he says lease holders put access to sufficient water at the top of the list. Another improvement they are making is the eradication of red cedars.
Leases will be offered to the public this fall and you can find the full schedule by clicking here.
"We lease land for five years at a time. There are about 750,000 acres that we own and lease throughout the state. About one-fifth of it comes to auction lease every five years, so there will be another 150,000 or so acres about 500 parcels in 36 counties this fall that will be auctioned.
"The first auction date is the 15th of October and the last is November 1st. We will be having advertisements throughout the state and on our website information about the locations and times of those various lease auctions will be made known quickly."
Birdwell says conservation requirements, grazing restrictions or any other conditions are publicized up front and published in auction brochures.
He says the land commission manages about 1,100,000 acres of mineral rights in addition to the surface rights for the benefit of public education.
"Last year was a record distribution year. In fiscal 2012 we distributed $140 million for the benefit of public education. One hundred and two million of those dollars went to the 525 public school districts in our state."
Birdwell said it's the third record-setting year in a row.
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