Frequently Asked Questions: Usage and Stewardship Questionnaire

What is the Usage and Stewardship Questionnaire?  

The Usage and Stewardship Questionnaire is a new annual questionnaire sent to lessees on Stewardship Trust properties. The questionnaire will apply only to state trust lands designated into the Stewardship Trust. Its purpose is to help the Board better understand how lands in the Stewardship Trust are being used and identify opportunities to improve long-term care. There are four parts to the questionnaire: grazing use, recreation use, property concerns, and stewardship improvement ideas.

Why is the State Land Board doing this?

The State Land Board recognizes that lessees of Stewardship Trust lands play an integral role in the stewardship and long-term care of these lands. Lessees are on the property more frequently, understand the land’s characteristics, and rely on the long-term productivity of these lands to support ranching operation and/or recreational use(s). While you should still immediately report any emergency situations to your District Manager, the Usage and Stewardship Questionnaire is a place where you can share how the land was utilized the past year, identify any problems, and suggest ideas for improving stewardship and care of the land and resources.

What is the Stewardship Trust?

Our agency manages trust lands for the intergenerational benefit of Colorado’s K-12 schools. We lease the land to you and others in order to raise money for schools. Responsible, long-term stewardship of the land matters to us because we need to support not only today’s students, but also future generations of students.

The Stewardship Trust was created in 1996 and is a special management designation placed by the Board on state trust lands with exceptionally high natural values including beauty, wildlife habitat, rare plants, and open space. It is limited in size to a total of 300,000 acres. Today the Stewardship Trust is made up of 109 properties totaling 296,425 acres.

State law requires that the State Land Board allow only those uses on Stewardship Trust lands that protect and enhance the land’s beauty, natural values, open space, and wildlife habitat. As part of this mandate, the State Land Board asks its Stewardship Trust lessees to manage these lands to a higher standard of care and requests lessee comments on any proposed new use of the land.

Why does the State Land Board need to know how the land is grazed and used for recreation?

We are asking about grazing use in order to have more context for our monitoring visits and better understand changes in property condition over time as they relate to grazing timing, intensity, and duration. Knowing how the land has been grazed helps us make sure our assessments are as accurate as possible. We ask about recreational use to better understand how state trust lands are used for hunting and other recreational uses. You are asked to complete only those sections of the questionnaire that apply to you.

Will I continue to decide how the land I lease is grazed?

Yes. The State Land Board recognizes that state trust lands are typically just one part of a ranch operation that makes annual grazing management decisions based on seasonal conditions, business needs, and complex pasture rotations involving deeded, leased private, and/or other leased public land. If situations arise where SLB staff feel that grass utilization on state trust lands require an adjustment, we will work with you to determine grazing management options.

Why does the questionnaire ask about property concerns on Stewardship Trust properties?  

It’s important for staff at the State Land Board to learn about your concerns because a variety of cost-sharing funds are available for Stewardship Trust properties. The Questionnaire provides an opportunity for you to notify us about any changes or concerns you’ve noticed on the land you lease, such as erosion, noxious weeds, and trespass. We also want to get your ideas about how to improve stewardship of the lands through lease management or an improvement project.

We hope this survey will be a valuable tool not only for improving stewardship, but also for improving communication and feedback between State Land Board staff and lessees.