August 11, 2016 BOARD MATTER H-5 ACTION: Consider a Proposed Amendment to the Agreement for the Transfer of Lands and Interests in Lands by and between the Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners and the United States of America at Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming AUTHORITY: Wyo. Stat. 36-2-101; 2011 HEA 22; 2014 SEA 69 BACKGROUND: At the time of statehood, Wyoming was granted school trust lands in what later became Grand Teton National Park. In 2010 the State of Wyoming owned four parcels containing 1366.32 surface and 1405.91 mineral acres within the exterior boundaries of Grand Teton National Park, generally identified as follows: Antelope Flats (surface and minerals) Kelly on Gros Ventre Road (surface and minerals) Snake River (surface and minerals) Jackson Lake (minerals only) 640.00 acres 640.00 acres 86.32 acres 39.59 acres The Wyoming Constitution directs the State to generate a reasonable income from these trust lands to support Wyoming public schools. However, the State is not able to benefit from the relative economic value of these lands because they are within Grand Teton National Park. The Board of Land Commissioners (Board), the Office of State Lands and Investments (Office) and others had discussed the merits of and equal value exchange of these lands for decades. The Grand Teton National Park Land Exchange Act, Public Law 108-32, was enacted in June, 2003, under the sponsorship and active support of the late Senator Craig Thomas. The Act authorizes federal acquisition of the state lands by 1) donation; 2) purchase with donated or appropriated funds; or 3) exchange of federal lands in Wyoming that are identified for disposal under approved land use plans. A consistent effort by the Board and the Office to effectuate an exchange has been pursued since the late 1990s. In 2010, the Board notified the Park that because they had been unable for too long to resolve this issue in collaboration with the Department of the Interior (Department), that the Board was prepared to discharge its fiduciary responsibility to manage the trust lands within the Park and that it planned to sell the 640-acre Kelly parcel at public auction unless the Department and Congress were able to further the exchange effort in the near future. If they could not, the Board advised it would direct the Office to proceed to sell the 640 acre Kelly parcel at public auction, in accordance with Wyoming law. After considerable efforts to resolve the matter, on December 10, 2010, the Board and the Department entered into an Agreement (Attachment # 1) for the Conveyance of Interest in Lands wherein the Department agreed to acquire the state trust lands that lie within the Grand Teton National Park on a parcel-by-parcel basis, for a specified amount, on or before a specific date as follows: Jackson Lake Parcel $ 2,000.00 On or before January 5, 2012 Snake River Parcel $16,000,000.00 On or before January 5, 2013 Antelope Flats Parcel $45,000,000.00 On or before January 5, 2014 Kelly Parcel $46,000,000.00 On or before January 5, 2015 The Agreement was expressly conditioned upon the Wyoming Legislature granting the Board the authority to directly transfer the state parcels to the Department on the basis set forth in the Agreement. The Legislature granted the Board that authority in the 2011 general session (2011 HEA 22). The Department acquired the Jackson Lake Parcel and the Snake River Parcel on or before the deadlines set out above. Page 1 of 3
However, in 2013 the Department indicated that it was unlikely to secure the funding to allow it to meet the January 5, 2014 deadline to acquire the Antelope Flats Parcel but that it would like to work with the State to pursue other options, in particular a land exchange. In 2014, the Department and the Board agreed to amend the 2010 agreement to allow for a value-for-value exchange of surface and/or mineral interests. (Attachment # 2). In accordance with the 2011 Wyoming Legislation, which required legislative approval of alternative methods of conveyance, the 2014 Amendment was expressly conditioned on receiving the approval of both the Wyoming Legislature. The Wyoming Legislature granted its approval for an exchange, but, among other things, specified the authority to accomplish either the originally approved sale or the exchange expired on December 31, 2016 (2014 SEA 69). For various reasons, an exchange did not come to fruition within the timeframe allowed by the 2010 agreement and the 2014 amendment. Seeking to finally resolve this situation within the time allowed by the already enacted legislative authorization granted by the Wyoming Legislature, the Department s focus has returned to a purchase of the parcels. In that regard, the Department has made the acquisition of the Antelope Flats parcel its highest priority for the National Park Service, and the Department is working with Congress to appropriate, in Fiscal Year 2017, half of the funding necessary to acquire the Antelope Flats parcel. The Department has otherwise partnered with the Grand Teton National Park Foundation and the National Park Foundation to raise the remaining $23 million in private funding. The Grand Teton National Park Foundation reports that it has already raised $7.1 million toward that goal. (Attachment # 3) ANALYSIS: In order to allow the Department to purchase the parcels, the December 2010 agreement between the Board and the Department will need to be amended a second time to allow for a sale of the Grand Teton parcels. In particular, as noted above, the December 2010 agreement authorized a phased sale of the parcels. Under the agreement, the Antelope Flats parcel was to be sold by January 5, 2014 and the Kelly parcel was to be sold by January 5, 2015. The agreement provides that if the Department fails to acquire each parcel by the specified deadline, the Board may terminate the agreement i.e., it did not automatically terminate. The 2011 legislation then authorized the sale of the Grand Teton parcels pursuant to the December 2010 agreement. The authorization was set to expire January 5, 2016; however, the 2014 legislation extended the authorization to sell the parcels to December 31, 2016. While the legislative deadline for the sale of the parcels is currently December 31, 2016, under the 2011 legislation, the sale must still be made pursuant to the December 2010 agreement. Because the deadlines specified in that agreement for the sale of the Antelope Flats and Kelly parcels have passed, a sale is not authorized at this time. Therefore, the agreement needs to be amended again to extend the deadlines for the sale of the parcels. Attached is a draft amendment to the 2010 agreement extending the deadline for the sale of the parcels to December 31, 2016 (Attachment # 4). Key provisions include: Extension of the deadline to acquire the parcels to December 31, 2016. The amount required for the Antelope Flats parcels was updated to the 2015 appraised value of $46,000,000. The agreement is acceptable to the Board s attorney general representative as well as the Department s solicitor. Indeed, the Department has indicated its commitment to this amendment by having the Secretary already sign the amendment. Page 2 of 3
DIRECTOR S RECOMMENDATION: The Director recommends that the Board approve the attached Amendment to the 2010 Agreement providing for the transfer of the state parcels within the exterior boundaries of Grand Teton National Park. BOARD ACTION: Page 3 of 3
G R A N D T E T O N N A T I O N A L P A R K F O U N D A T I O N July 27, 2016 The Honorable Governor Matt Mead The Honorable Secretary of State Ed Murray The Honorable Treasurer Mark Gordon The Honorable Auditor Cynthia Cloud The Honorable Jillian Balow Wyoming State Board of Land Commissioners 122 West 25 th Street Cheyenne, WY 82002 Dear Governor Mead, Secretary of State Murray, Treasurer Gordon, Auditor Cloud and Superintendent Balow, As trustees of Wyoming s state land assets, your role to ensure income from the two school sections that are within Grand Teton National Park is one we are fully committed to supporting with cash. The purpose of this letter is to express our willingness to raise private funds to support the acquisition of the school trust lands within Grand Teton National Park. After decades of efforts to exchange or trade these two school section inholdings, many believe the best solution is cash especially now with Wyoming s decreasing energy revenues and economic hardship in key sectors of the state. We want you to know we will do our best to follow through on the Antelope Flats parcel transaction with the private funds needed to complete the purchase by the 2016 deadline. We also hope you continue to see us as a potential partner in making both school section transactions possible. Securing payment for the Antelope Flats parcel could create the momentum for a future transaction of the Kelly parcel. Private sector funds will be required to achieve the cash price for Antelope Flats a project model that has been used successfully in Wyoming by entities with which you are very familiar, namely the University of Wyoming Foundation. As background, Grand Teton National Park Foundation serves as the private fundraising partner for Grand Teton National Park. Our organization has a long history of successful public-private partnership projects, which has helped increase visitation and positively improve Wyoming s tourism economy. For example, the Foundation worked closely with the late U.S. Senator Craig Thomas and raised $18 million to leverage an $8.5 million appropriation from Congress to build the new visitor center in Po s t O f f i c e B o x 2 4 9 M o o s e, W Y 8 3 0 1 2 p h : 3 0 7. 7 3 2. 0 6 2 9 Fa x : 3 0 7. 7 3 2. 0 6 3 9 d i r e c t o r @ g t n p f. o r g w w w. g t n p f. o r g
Moose. Since 2008, we have raised over $53 million in support of projects in Grand Teton, leveraging federal investments for public benefit programs ranging from youth engagement to the renewal of visitor facilities at Jenny Lake. Specifically, our Foundation is committed to making our best effort to match, dollar for dollar, the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund funding for the purchase of the Antelope Flats parcel. LWCF dollars are revenues from off-shore oil drilling, and over the years, they have funded grants and projects throughout Wyoming in nearly every corner of the state. Attached is a list of some of those projects to date. Currently $23 million in LWCF dollars is committed for the Antelope Flats purchase, and our Foundation, along with the National Park Foundation, will match that amount in private cash. We are proud to report to you that we have already raised more than one-third of that $23 million, with more than $7 million in private funds in hand. We have several million more in outstanding requests. As residents of Wyoming, we are excited to play this role to achieve both your and our mutual goals for the state s school trust and Grand Teton National Park. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. Thank you for all you do for Wyoming. Sincerely, Leslie A. Mattson Rob Wallace President Board Member 307-732-0629 office 202-744-6961 mobile 307-690-8603 mobile rob@robwallacegroup.com leslie@gtnpf.org cc: Bridget Hill, Wyoming Director of State Lands Mary Kay Hill, Director of Policy for Governor Matt Mead Jerimiah Rieman, Natural Policy Director for Governor Matt Mead