Land swap for school trust land in Bears Ears on hold

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A land swap for 109,000 acres of state school trust land within the newly created Bears Ears National Monument won't happen before President Barack Obama leaves office and is on indefinite hold, federal and state officials said this week.

Rather than move forward with figuring out the land exchange in anticipation the monument will stand as hundreds of others have before this one, the board decided there's too much uncertainty to make that worthwhile, said Kim Christy, deputy director of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration.

The trust land is in two different chunks within the monument and includes land that is used for grazing, cellphone towers and oil and gas leases — all of which brings in revenues that help fund Utah's public education system, Christy said.

Jewell said in the letter the land exchange would benefit all by giving Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration other lands that would generate revenue for schools while preserving lands within the monument that include thousands of archaeological sites.