Here you will find information about the leasing of more than 1 million acres of state trust lands. These include leases: to private farmers, ranchers, and orchardists; for rock, sand and gravel, minerals and mining; for oil and gas exploration and extraction; and for communication sites, commercial real estate, and more. There may be opportunities for you to lease trust lands, too.
We also lease areas of the 2.6 million acres of state-owned aquatic lands such as the tidelands and beds of Puget Sound, lakes, and rivers. Leases are for marinas, shellfish beds, rights of way across these watery lands, and a host of other activities.
We have been a long-term partner with lessees to bring many benefits to the people of Washington—for more than 100 years.
Land transactions are a valuable tool for us to improve long-term value of state trust lands, as well as DNR's management options. We strive to improve trust land values, increase income potential, and reduce financial risks to the trusts. We constantly seek the right 'mix of land assets' to manage, and selectively 'reposition' the lands through land exchanges, transfer or sale, and purchase of replacement properties.
Transactions also offer a way to move lands with special environmental values or unique features out of trust ownership and into conservation or other ownership. Replacement properties are then acquired that are more appropriate for long-term revenue production.