ST. GEORGE, Utah — The Washington County Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved the transfer of about 100 acres of land back to the Bureau of Land Management, St. George News reports.
However, through recent private land exchanges with the BLM, the amount of private lands in Washington County has “substantially increased,” Commissioner Dean Cox said at Tuesday’s meeting.
The 100 acres being transferred to the BLM was a donation from a private landowner to Washington County, Cox said. To get a tax benefit, the landowner had previously swapped his “inholding” — privately-owned land within the boundaries of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve — for BLM land outside of the reserve.