Created in 1994, the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, SITLA, manages the state’s 3.4 million acres of trust lands. Unlike public lands, trust lands are not held in the public trust, rather, they are held in trust for 12 beneficiaries, defined and designated by Congress at statehood.
Approximately six percent of the land within Utah’s borders is trust land. SITLA works with private business to generate revenue from energy and mineral royalties, and real estate and surface development. Since its inception, SITLA has generated $1.96 billion for the Permanent School Fund and these other institutional endowments:
| Higher Education Institutions | Special Education Institutions | Public Institutions |
| University of Utah | School for the Deaf | Public Buildings |
| College of Mining & Earth Sciences | School for the Blind | Juvenile Justice Services |
| Miners Hospital | Utah State Hospital | |
| Utah State University | Reservoirs | |
| State Teaching Colleges |
STEWARDSHIP
In addition to generating substantial revenue, the Administration has been involved in numerous transactions and projects that have preserved and protected more than 560,000 acres of land in Utah, an area equivalent to the combined acreage of Arches, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, and Zion national parks.
LAND EXCHANGE DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNT (LEDA)
The agency also administers the Land Exchange Distribution Account, managing the complex disbursement of development royalties from federal lands, which serve as compensation to the 27 counties that acquired or exchanged lands at the time of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument designation and Utah Recreational Land Exchange Act of 2009. This responsibility will continue to grow as the Administration collaborates on several land exchanges with the federal government.
MISSION: Administering trust lands prudently and profitably for Utah’s schoolchildren and other trust beneficiaries. Learn more about the history and development of trust lands.
