A lot of school buildings built around Washington state have a bit of DNR in them. In Fiscal Year 2009, state trust lands managed by DNR produced about $100 million for public school construction statewide. Less than a quarter of that revenue (23 percent) came from the sale of timber from state trust lands. Leases from agriculture, commercial and communications sites made up another quarter of the revenue. The state’s Trust Land Transfer program provided almost $59 million of the $100 million distributed last year to the Common School Construction account, which supports kindergarten through 12th grade school construction.
The newly released DNR Annual Report explains more about where the revenue came from and where it went in FY 2009. DNR also manages thousands of acres of trust lands to support construction at state universities, penal and charitable institutions, and public services in more than two dozen counties.
