Some landowners in Jackson County may not have rights to frac sand and other minerals on their property.

Jackson County soon plans to begin determining how many privately owned acres for which it holds mineral rights, a provision it’s attained when selling land.

What the county may or may not do with those mineral rights is yet to be seen. And that question comes at a time when sand mining is booming in the area.

“The county’s not ready to give up any mineral rights — let’s put it that way,” said Jackson County Clerk Kyle Deno. “But having said that, what is the best option for the county and for the landowner?

“If (Jackson County) is actually in an area that had frac sanding, I believe there’s value to that. I guess there’s money right now in frac sanding, so the county’s got to figure out what the mineral rights might be worth.”

Finding out how much mineral rights retention the county has was prompted by a Curran Township landowner who approached the county asking how it could turn over its rights to frac sand on a 40-acre property. The landowner, who Deno did not identify, originally purchased the parcel in 1974 from the county after it had previously taken the land on tax deed.

Deno said the county currently has no way to determine how many acres of land to which it has attached mineral rights when selling repossessed property, but she said that will be part of an upcoming discussion by the Tax Deed and Land Committee about a policy for approaching the issue.

“We have to do our homework and find other (parcels), or we just wait until someone else comes knocking on our door,” she said. “We will find out, though, and that is a good project that we’re going to start on.”

The Western Wisconsin region has become a hotbed for companies looking to establish sand processing plants, and a new operation — Taylor Frac LLC — has plans to be up and running in Springfield Township in May. The county also has seen an influx of private landowners looking to mine and sell frac sand — a product used to extract gas from wells for the oil and gas industry — from their properties.

However, Deno said the county’s upcoming policy will apply to all minerals that could be housed on county land, like gravel, copper or gold.

Deno said the county in the past sold land on tax deed at a low price, but now increased land value makes establishing a policy for mineral rights that much more important because interest in keeping or relinquishing rights may vary based on parcel size or the type of mineral on the land.

The county also maintains rights to public hunting and fishing on about 10,000 acres of privately owned land.

“We do try to stay competitive on what it is that we’re seeing, so we do get a good price for that,” she said. “Things have changed, so our policy is we take a look at each parcel we sell and (we decide), ‘Do we retain (mineral rights) or don’t we retain it?’”

Deno said the committee’s intention is to begin formulating a policy that will determine when it is appropriate to relinquish mineral rights to a property owner.

Jackson County Conservationist Gaylord Olson II, who attended a recent Tax Deed and Land Committee meeting, said more issues with minerals may come up because of the recent influx of interest in frac sand mining, but he said he doesn’t envision the land conservation department having a large role in formulating or implementing a new policy.

“There is a potential that this issue could arise again,” Olson said