SB 575

Under the Managed Forest Land Program administered by the Department of

Natural Resources (DNR), the owner of a parcel of land designated as managed forest

land (MFL) makes an annual acreage share payment that is lower than, and in lieu

of, the property taxes that normally would be payable on the land. In exchange, the

owner must comply with certain forestry practices. The owner may keep a specific

area of the MFL closed to public access, but the owner must keep the remainder of

the MFL open for recreational activities such as hunting, fishing, and cross-country

skiing. For MFL that is closed to the public, the MFL owner must make a payment

that is in addition to the acreage share payment (closed acreage fees).

Under current law, the entire amount that is collected as closed acreage fees is

collected by the applicable taxation district and transferred to an applicable county,

which in turn transfers the payments to DNR for deposit into the conservation fund.

Under this bill, in 2014 only, the taxation district is required to pay 75 percent of the

closed acreage fees to DNR. The bill provides that of the remaining 25 percent

collected by the taxation district, the taxation district must pay 20 percent to the

county.

Current law also requires DNR to pay each town treasurer 30 cents per acre of

land in that town that is designated as county forest land. This bill increases those

payments to 55 cents per acre beginning with payments made in 2014 for land

designated as county forest land as of June 30, 2013.