SALEM – Sewage lagoons that are a remnant of Rancho Rajneesh are finally being sold.

For almost a decade, the youth ministry that owns the sprawling Wasco County ranch – which has been converted to a religious camp – has been leasing the 480-acre state parcel that contains part of the cement pools that filter wastewater from the development.

Since the time that lease was initially drawn up in 1998, Colorado-based Young Life asked repeatedly to buy that property, which is wholly surrounded by the 64,000-acre former Big Muddy Ranch.

On Tuesday, the State Land Board approved the sale of that 480-acre property for $153,476.

”We’re pleased we were able to come to an agreement with Young Life on this parcel,” said Steve Purchase, assistant director of land management for the Department of State Lands. ”Since this parcel is completely surrounded by land owned by Young Life, it makes sense for them to buy this acreage.”

The proceeds from the sale will go to the Common School Trust Fund, which receives the proceeds from economic activity on state-managed land.

Richard Kaiser, the director of real estate for Young Life at its Colorado Springs, Colo., office said Tuesday he is pleased the matter has been resolved.

”There was always some doubt,” he said. ”They did not have to sell it, and it was a revenue stream for them. It was never a given that they were highly motivated to sell it.”

The ranch, located south of the town of Antelope, hosts 6,000 youths during the summer from across the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii, and another 12,000 people during the offseason for weekend retreats and other events.

The place is now known as Wildhorse Canyon.

State Sen. Ben Westlund, D-Tumalo, said Tuesday he was disappointed that the sale took so long to complete.

”This is not a shining example of government being nimble and responsive,” he said. ”But the good news is that even though the wheels ground slowly, they arrived at the proper place and we had a winning buyer and a willing seller.”

Westlund intervened on behalf of Young Life in 2005 and asked the agency to move more quickly on that sale.

The Land Board – made up of the governor, state treasurer and secretary of state – in December gave the green light to sell the parcel.

The price paid for the parcel is a significant premium over the $77,000 that Young Life offered, based on an appraisal, said Linda Swearingen, a former Deschutes County Commissioner who has lobbied for Young Life.

The youth ministry will not be able to develop the mostly scrub land, which is the site of several native American burial sites, she said.

The state retained the mineral rights to the land, as is customary, Purchase said.

Young Life acquired the Big Muddy Ranch at the end of 1997 and set about converting the former cult village located there into a religious camp. That’s when leaders learned the wastewater treatment system built by the Rajneeshes intruded onto state-owned land.

And that meant they would need to pay to use the parcel.

A 20-year lease was drawn up – but at what Young Life leaders say was a premium price of $4,000 a year. However, they say they agreed because of indications that they would be allowed to quickly buy the state site.

State officials disagree that the lease was expensive, however, because the Rajneeshes paid $6,000 a year to lease the property in the 1980s.

In addition, the state says that lease didn’t follow the official state format, and was signed by a former employee that lacked the proper authority.

In an interesting twist, state records show that former worker later contacted the agency at least once on behalf of Young Life.

The 1998 contract between the state and Young Life reads: ”landlord desires to sell the premises and tenant desires to buy the premises,” and also contains a provision that ”landlord agrees to commence procedures to sell the premises within 30 days.”

Almost a decade later, the sale is final.

The Wasco County site is among hundreds of state-owned Common School Land parcels that are managed to maximize dollars for public education. Oregon acquired those properties at the time of statehood.

The Department of State Lands is selling parcels that are isolated and difficult to manage, particularly those that are fully contained inside other ownerships.

The Rajneesh dissipated in 1985 after the Bhagwan was found guilty of immigration fraud and deported to India, where he died in 1990.

As part of an effort to take over Wasco County government, his followers masterminded what is the largest bioterrorism incident in the United States when they poisoned salad bars and coffee creamers in The Dalles.