Agricultural News
Oklahoma School Land Lease Auctions Coming Up- Starting October 20th in the Panhandle
Wed, 08 Oct 2014 22:19:28 CDT
Oklahomans will have an opportunity to lease over 500 tracts of land through the state's land office in the coming weeks. The state government agency will be offering leases for mostly agricultural production land for the benefit of the state's public schools. Commissioners of the Land Office Secretary Harry Birdwell said federal government gave land to the state to manage for the benefit of public education in the state.
"Even 100 and some years after statehood we manage nearly 750 thousand acres of land in the state and a million 100 thousand mineral acres for the benefit of all the school districts in the state and several of the higher education institutions in Oklahoma," Birdwell said.
In Fiscal Year 2014 the Commissioners of the Land Office distributed over $126 million in support of public schools and higher education in Oklahoma. Land can be leased for
farming or recreational activities and funds generated from the land leases are distributed to schools, a win-win opportunity for the state.
"To use our assets to help the economy of our state as farmers, ranchers and recreationalists use our land for their private uses while under lease with the CLO," Birdwell said.
Approximately one-fifth of the state's school land leases come up for auction annually. This year 501 tracts of land will be offered for a five year lease in 42 Oklahoma counties.
Auctions will be held October 20, 2014, through November 4, 2014 in nine locations. The date and locations for each of the auctions is listed between October 20th and November 4th on our calendar and auction pages.
Ron Hays will be joined by Birdwell on the "In the Field" segment Saturday morning at 6:40 on KWTV News9 in Oklahoma City. And, they also talked about the process and challenges of keeping school land sustainable in the face of conditions like the last several years of drought. You can hear that conversation by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
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