Written by Justin Park|
Last updated
'Corner crossing' on public lands has gotten a lot of attention in media and the courts the past few years, but not much has been done to address the root of the conflict: the checkerboard land-ownership pattern in the West. North Dakota is doing something about it with the federal North Dakota Trust Lands Completion Act, which lays out a plan for making state, federal, and tribal lands more contiguous.
As we've written about here several times, the 'checkerboard' is an historical artifact, in many cases the result of a deal made with railroads to incentivize routes across the West. As a result of this and other treaties and agreements during Western settlement, alternating squares of land under different ownership make up large portions of Western states including Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota.
The issue at hand in the Congressional act (H.R. 2252) is State Land Trust parcels that are essentially islands in the middle of tribal lands. The Act lays out the framework for making equal-value land swaps, exchanging tribal lands and state lands to make more cohesive blocks of each.
The motivation is, in large part, mining access, but will have the added benefit of improving access. A press release from the ND Governor says the state "holds more than 31,000 surface acres and 130,000 acres of mineral rights within tribal reservation boundaries. That fragmented ownership pattern has complicated land management and economic development opportunities for tribes, the state, and surrounding communities for generations."
The devil will be in the details of these swaps and there is a good chance swaps are made with mining opportunity as the priority rather than recreation. Previous public-private land swaps made to address the checkerboard issues in Montana improved access in some areas but closed off other access and were viewed with suspicion by some locals.
Notably, the Act doesn't prescribe any specific swaps, rather it lays out the legal framework for making them. All state, federal, and tribal parties must voluntarily pursue any parcel exchanges should the bill pass and provide the mechanism.
Justin Park is a Colorado-based writer, editor, and avid hunter with a passion for the outdoors. He contributes to leading publications such as GearJunkie, Popular Mechanics, Powder, and Men's Journal, and serves as Editor of Wild Snow. Park is deeply involved in conservation and recreation advocacy, serving as Chapter Chair of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) in Summit County. He also represents RMEF on a state recreation committee focused on proactively addressing land use conflicts.