Board approves land swaps in Stevens, Whitman counties

A land swap involving thousands of acres in Eastern Washington was approved Tuesday by the Washington Board of Natural Resources.

Most of the nearly 2,600 acres of private land coming into public ownership is in Stevens and Whitman counties.

Tuesday’s exchange is the first in a plan to trade as much as 16,000 acres of state trust land in Eastern Washington for private property in an attempt to consolidate state lands, according to a press release from the state Department of Natural Resources.

“Getting trust lands into larger blocks will allow us to improve how we manage these lands for trust revenue as well as for recreational access and for wildlife and plant habitat,” Commissioner of Public Lands Doug Sutherland said in the release.

Tuesday’s exchange included parcels in Okanogan, Stevens, Whitman, Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Pend Oreille, Kittitas and Ferry counties.

In Stevens County, the agency took ownership of 12 parcels totaling nearly 1,600 acres from Clearwater Group, a company specializing in public-private land swaps.

Much of the land acquired in that county is east of the town of Daisy, adjacent to lands already owned by the state and U.S. Forest Service.

Four parcels totaling 592 acres in Stevens County were transferred to Clearwater Group, including a 40-acre parcel in the south part of the county.

About 1,000 acres in Whitman County came into public ownership.