Land swap hits bump in the road
Gunnison County seems to be a big winner in the proposal; yet skeptics surface
Times Editor
Originally published 2010-07-29



A North Fork Valley mining magnet is trying to expand his private ranch near Paonia Reservoir by acquiring 1,846 acres of adjacent public lands via a land swap. In exchange, the nearby Curecanti National Recreation Area would gain 911 acres that its managers have characterized as important wildlife habitat and a key view shed corridor adjacent to Blue Mesa Reservoir.

An 80 acre private inholding within the Dinosaur National Monument in northwestern Colorado and a tiny parcel at a popular trailhead near Marble are also included in the deal.

Federal legislation (HR 5059) proposing the Bear Ranch Land Exchange was introduced by Congressman John Salazar in April. Companion legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall more recently.

Several governmental entities, including the Gunnison County Commissioners, the Town of Marble and the Aspen Valley Land Trust, have endorsed the exchange.

However, a growing chorus of criticism has arisen recently, primarily from citizens living in the North Fork Valley who wonder what they’re getting out of the deal.

Other critics speculate that the proposal is an underhanded attempt by Bear Ranch owner William Koch, who also owns the natural gas company Gunnison Energy and has ownership interests the coal mining corporation Oxbow, to obtain valuable mineral rights for future development. That claim has been strongly rejected by Koch’s spokespeople and by Congressman Salazar.

“Unfortunately, rumors have been circulating about what this bill does, or does not do,” Salazar said in a written statement he produced last weekend.

The 1,846 acres of Bureau of Land Management property in question basically dissects the Bear Ranch. It’s located within Gunnison County, and County Road 2 serves as a motorized access from Paonia Reservoir to the nearby Ragged Mountains.

Under the proposal, that road would remain open to the public, only it’d be converted to a non-motorized trail. Additionally, the Gunnison County Trails Commission (via the county commissioners) has obtained an agreement for a right of way to develop another trail adjacent to Kebler Pass Road and a $200,000 commitment from Koch to go toward building a nearby section of the long-proposed Crested Butte to Carbondale trail system.

Longtime Paonia resident Ed Marston argued in a letter to his local newspaper that while Gunnison County “has gotten itself some goodies,” the proposal has taken flight without local input, let alone support.

“These are not Gunnison County’s lands,” he wrote. “These are federal lands that belong to all of us and are mostly used by ... those of us who live in Delta County.”

Marston, the former publisher of the environmental newspaper High Country News and current president of the Paonia Chamber of Commerce, has called for legislators to withdraw the bill and start “the public process they should have begun with.”

Jon Lee lives adjacent to Bear Ranch. He said “a lot of people are pretty soured over this deal.” Reasons why include the potential loss of historic hunting grounds and the general public’s lack of awareness over details of the proposal, including the loss of a motorized pathway.

Lee’s chief concern, however, has to do with an easement through the BLM land in question he currently uses to access an irrigation head gate. He’s been given no assurances that the easement will remain in tact should the land go into private hands.

Salazar, in his letter, said the legislation “protects all valid existing utility rights of way. ...”

Marty Grantham of Gunnison has other concerns. She argues that a conservation easement that would be placed on most of the BLM property under the exchange doesn’t adequately protect it from future exploration. Surface disturbance could take place on adjacent property, and minerals under the conserved property could be accessed via directional drilling, she opines.

Language in the current legislation is somewhat unclear on the matter of future exploration, a point which BLM staff members from the Montrose Field Office made in an internal review of the legislation that was leaked to the public.

Salazar tried to put the minerals issue to rest.

“Ownership of any minerals will remain with the federal government, and all the land received by the ranch will be immediately placed in a conservation easement, preserving the land and all its natural beauty,” he wrote.

Brad Goldstein, director of corporate affairs for the Oxbow Corp., said “we are not going to develop the property for mineral extraction.”

“Bill Koch wishes to obtain this property for his personal ranch, where he raises cattle and rides horses,” he added.

High Country Citizens’ Alliance has not taken a stance on the proposal, according to its public lands director Matt Reed. The executive director of the Western Slope Environmental Resource Council, Rob Peters, did not respond to a request for his input on the matter.

The legislation does stipulate that the properties being exchanged be of equal value. If the federal property is deemed, via an appraisal process, more valuable than the private holdings, then the private property holder must make a “cash equalization payment” to the government.

Gunnison County records indicate that Koch paid $545,000 for the 911 acres near Blue Mesa in 2008.

 

(Chris Dickey can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or editor@gunnisontimes.com)