The board shall retain and manage original grant lands to produce revenue consistent with the long-term maintenance of the original grant lands' income producing potential and ecological health. The commissioner may propose, or accept letters of application for, the sale of original grant lands after the original grant lands have been evaluated by the commissioner for "highest and best use" as defined in North Dakota Century Code section 15-02-05.1 and the department considers the following criteria:
1. If the tract has been zoned or has high potential to be zoned residential, commercial, or industrial;2. The tract's potential for mineral development, including sand, gravel, clay, and scoria;3. If the tract has been a source of persistent management problems, resulting in the sale of the tract being prudent from a long-term financial point of view;4. If the tract and adjacent trust land tracts total less than eighty acres [32.37 hectares] in size, more or less, for grassland and less than forty acres [16.19 hectares], more or less, for cropland or hayland, except those tracts which are severed by a highway, road, railroad, canal, river, or lake, which may be sold if the severed portion is less than these amounts; or5. If the tract and adjacent trust land tracts exceed eighty acres [32.37 hectares] in size, more or less, for grassland or more than forty acres [16.19 hectares] in size, more or less, for cropland. N.D. Admin Code 85-04-07-01
Adopted by Administrative Rules Supplement 2020-379, January 2021, effective 1/1/2021.General Authority: N.D. Constitution article IX, § 6; NDCC 28-32-02
Law Implemented: NDCC 15-06, 15-08