The Bureau of Land Management is one step closer to fulfilling a 150-year debt to Oregon, after a transfer of 640 acres of Crook County land from the federal government to the state happened earlier this year.

The 640 acres of juniper- and sage-covered land is about six miles south of Prineville. Surrounded by privately owned property, the Oregon Department of State Lands will likely develop the property. No matter what is done, however, the proceeds will go to the Common School Fund, which goes to Oregon public schools.

“We haven’t started the conceptual process yet, so it’s undetermined what we will do,” said Nancy Pustis, eastern regional manager with the department. “The local community right there are residences, so we would probably do something similar to what it looks like now.”

Pustis said the state is working without time constraints and won’t consider developing the property until the economy improves.

“We don’t have a certain time when we have to have them developed or make X amount,” she said. “There was no cost to acquiring the land except administrative (costs).”

But she said the land met certain criteria the state looks for when requesting parcels.

“It does have public access, it’s off Canyon Creek Road, it has utilities. … It’s close to town activities, and it’s in the area for residential development,” she said. “It gives the indication that it could be right for development at some point in the future.”

When Oregon became a state in 1859, the federal government said certain sections within every township were required to be given to the state for the support of local schools. In 1991, a federal court decision ruled that BLM still owed the state 5,202 acres.

The state has been especially interested in Central Oregon land because of the area’s growth and, until recently, hot real estate market.

“Of the 5,202 acres we originally owed the state, at least 50 percent of those lands have been in Central Oregon,” said Doug Vandergon, a realty specialist with the BLM in Prineville.

The Prineville land, commonly called Juniper Canyon, isn’t the first Central Oregon land transferred to the state and likely won’t be the last.

In April 2008, about 240 acres east of Redmond and near Cline Buttes was put in the state’s hands. Before that, Oregon received 945 acres just south of Redmond, and state officials are waiting to hear from the BLM regarding 1,576 acres east of the U.S. Highway 97 junction with Deschutes Market Road.

The Deschutes Market Road property has been one of the more contentious transfers, and it could mark the end of the land owed to the state. Neighbors, who are used to living near undeveloped BLM land, are worried about the state developing the parcels.

Jeff Boyer, who lives near Deschutes Market Road, said the BLM has received overwhelming feedback during past public comment sessions against the transfer.

“What concerns me is this land should be retained for public ownership so folks can utilize the land and recreation and wildlife,” he said. “If it got turned into a subdivision or commercial development, it would completely destroy the character. There’s old-growth Juniper habitat that would be destroyed, there’s an old historical wagon trail, it would impact that … I walk out there to enjoy the recreation, wildlife, birds and animals almost every day.”

Pustis said she expects to hear from BLM regarding the transfer of the Deschutes Market Road property within a couple of weeks.

“The bottom line is we’re mandated to generate revenue for K-12 schools,” Pustis said. “We’re looking at these (properties) to do that.”