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BACKUS - Kevin Dahlman, assistant land commissioner, presented that department's annual report to the county board Tuesday.

Cass commissioners set a no-net-loss policy several years ago concerning the amount of land the county manages. This is the opposite policy of many neighboring counties, Dahlman reminded the board.

In 2014, like many recent years, Cass continued a practice to sell land having no public access, public access surrounded by private property, platted lots or isolated land from other county acreages, he said.

To offset those sales, Cass applied for state funding and received a grant from the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council and Legislature to purchase key tracts of forest and critical habitat adjacent to existing county land, he explained.

The net result provides larger tracts available to the public for hunting and recreation, while preventing property use conflicts in more densely populated areas, Dahlman said.

In 2014, Cass sold 422.08 acres and purchased 388.22 acres. All purchases are subject to town board approval.

Buyers paid Cass County $392,775 for parcels they bought. The county paid $563,000 state Lessard-Sams money (from the 3/8ths cent sales tax) to buy land. No county property tax money was used.

Few Minnesota counties are taking advantage of money available to purchase land through the Lessard-Sams fund, Dahlman said, so Cass has been granted about half of the state money sought each year.

The county land sales have helped offset some of the income lost from timber sales, Dahlman noted.

Cass's 2015 land sale will be at 9 a.m. June 27 at the courthouse in Walker.

Parcels to be sold range from city lots to 80 acre tracts. A list of the parcels will be posted on the county web page at www.co.cass.mn.us after May 15.

Aspen was selling for between $30 and $40 per cord between 2000 and 2003, then peaked in 2005 at over $70 per cord. As the recession hit and several pulpwood processing plants closed in Minnesota, sales dropped below $30 per cord in 2007.

Prices for aspen hit a low of about $22 per cord in 2013, but rose in 2014 to closer to $27 per cord.

Cass sold timber from 4,596.6 acres in 103 tracts in 2014, with 1,108 being aspen acreages. Sales for other hardwoods have increased. By 2014, Cass sold 664 acres of northern hardwoods and 651.7 acres of oak in 2014.

Loggers paid the highest average price ($30.99) for jack pine and oak ($28.69) in 2014 and the least for ash ($11.55) and balsam fir ($13.99).

The land department spent $2,938,374 in 2014. Of that, 31 percent was transferred back as tax forfeited settlements to townships, cities, schools, reforestation, trails and county general fund.

This represents a distribution of income such as from timber sales earned on tax forfeited land the county manages.

Salaries and benefits consumed 20 percent. The Lessard-Sams pass-through for land purchases was 25 percent. Trail maintenance consumed 10 percent.

About 2 to 4 percent each went toward capital outlay, supplies/maintenance, administration and insurances, contractor fees and indirect costs. Utilities were one percent.

Land department income in 2014 ran $3,494,308. The Lessard-Sams grant represents 16 percent of that.

Timber sales still represent 52 percent of the income and land sales 12 percent. Reforestation and trails inter-fund transfers and recreational trails state grants were each 6 percent.

Cass received five percent from state and federal payments in lieu of taxes, 1 percent from gas tax allocations, 2 percent from easements and aggregate material sales and leases each less than one percent.

With the cold winter a year ago, Dahlman said interest in county firewood permits increased from 49 in 2013 to 82 in 2014. The county issues these permits to individuals to allow them to cut leftover wood for firewood after loggers remove most trees on timber sale tracts.

Cass grades four forest access roads twice a year: Deerfield, Bull Moose, Moose Lake-Bungo and the Old Grade. Additionally, state recreational trail funding passed through the county includes money to help snowmobile, all-terrain vehicle and ski clubs improve and maintain trail routes.

Tuesday, the county board awarded contracts for this summer's forest road grading to low bidders.

Sawyer Timber will grade Moose Lake-Bungo, Deerfield and Bull Moose trails for $2,200. Ruyak Enterprises will grade the Old Grade for $3,500.

Before timber sales, Cass has been having land boundaries surveyed. In 2014, in nine projects 31.75 miles of boundary were surveyed by professional surveyors. Lines were marked and "Welcome to Cass County Land" signs posted along the edge of the county land.

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