Cook County land in the BWCA worth nearly $1 billion, officials say

Not every piece of land in this nation needs a price tag, but if land inside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness could be logged, mined, or developed, it would be worth more than an estimated $1 billion in Cook County alone, according to Assessor Bob Thompson.

During a Nov. 8 meeting of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, Thompson said he continues to believe the federal government is not adequately compensating local governments in northeastern Minnesota in the form of payments for land set aside in the BWCA. In 1948, United States lawmakers passed the Thye-Blatnik Act to buy resorts and private lands in what would eventually be named the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The bill also provides payments in-lieu-of-taxes (PILT) to Cook, Lake and St. Louis counties for federal wilderness land to make up for lost private property taxes. A valuation process is completed every 10 years to determine how much each county receives through this piece of legislation.

Following an appraisal that was done in 2018, land inside the BWCA is worth $800 an acre, according to the Forest Service. The land is valued mostly on timber and how much money the forest could generate should a timber sale be conducted, according to Thompson. The county assessor told WTIP Nov. 11 that other factors, including mineral deposits and development should be considered. Under that scenario, Thompson said, the land in the BWCA is worth approximately $4,000 an acre. There are approximately 242,000 acres of BWCA land in Cook County. With that in mind, Thompson added, neither county nor federal officials are suggesting land in the BWCA should be developed, logged or mined. Regardless, federal law prohibits mining or logging in the BWCA.

St. Louis, Lake and Cook Counties found out in May the valuation of federal lands inside the BWCA. The findings were not what the counties were hoping for. County officials were informed May 12 by representatives from the U.S. Forest Service that the county will receive less than the previous amount of approximately $2 million they’d been receiving for a decade. Following the 2018 appraisal, the annual payments to the county from the federal government for BWCA lands were lowered to approximately $1.35 million for the next decade.

A series of appeals, the most recent being submitted Friday, Nov. 11, continue to keep the PILT payments and this issue on the table of county government and Forest Service officials. WTIP Outdoor News Podcast Host Joe Friedrichs spoke with Superior National Forest Supervisor Tom Hall and Cook County Assessor Bob Thompson to learn more on this topic. Audio below.

Joe Friedrichs November 12, 2022