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	<title>Western Land Group</title>
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		<title>Crags Land Exchange Closes in the Pike and San Isabel National Forests, Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands, Colorado</title>
		<link>https://www.westernlandgroup.com/index.php/2021/03/02/crags-land-exchange-closes-in-the-pike-and-san-isabel-national-forests-cimarron-and-comanche-national-grasslands-colorado/</link>
		
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		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Mar 2021 18:27:52 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Press Releases]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.westernlandgroup.com/?p=630</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Western Land Group worked with the U.S. Forest Service and the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to pursue and ultimately close this Congressionally authorized land exchange with the U.S. Forest Service. The land exchange closed on February 8, 2021. It conveyed a forested and undeveloped 320-acre parcel along the northwestern flank of Pikes Peak (known as the Crags Parcel) to the Pike and San Isabel National Forest near located near the popular Crags Campground to enhance the management of this area for its wildlife values and public recreational opportunities, and the values associated with the adjacent Pikes Peak West<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Western Land Group worked with the U.S. Forest Service and the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to pursue and ultimately close this Congressionally authorized land exchange with the U.S. Forest Service. The land exchange closed on February 8, 2021. It conveyed a forested and undeveloped 320-acre parcel along the northwestern flank of Pikes Peak (known as the Crags Parcel) to the Pike and San Isabel National Forest near located near the popular Crags Campground to enhance the management of this area for its wildlife values and public recreational opportunities, and the values associated with the adjacent Pikes Peak West Roadless Area. As part of this land exchange, the permanent easement along the Barr Trail was confirmed, which provides public access to areas near the Manitou Incline, a popular hiking trail starting at Manitou Springs, Colorado, and routing to the top of Pikes Peak.</p>
<p>In exchange, the Broadmoor Hotel acquired ownership of the Emerald Valley Ranch. This Ranch, which comprises an 83-acre parcel, has been operated as a camp and resort since 1892. The Broadmoor Hotel operates it as a resort, formerly under a U.S. Forest Service special use permit since 2014. It contains 9 cabins, a lodge, and other facilities and amenities providing hotel guests with a rustic outdoor experience in the mountains west of Colorado Springs. The Broadmoor Hotel will document the history of this Ranch as part of this land exchange, and also acquired, as per the congressional authorization, a permanent easement along Forest Service Road 371 to provide access for guests and ongoing maintenance and operation of this resort.</p>


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		<title>County fully funds federal land transfer work for river parcels</title>
		<link>https://www.westernlandgroup.com/index.php/2020/09/21/county-fully-funds-federal-land-transfer-work-for-river-parcels/</link>
		
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		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 19:30:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[News Articles]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.westernlandgroup.com/?p=656</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Jackson Hole News &#38; Guide By Billy Arnold Jackson Hole Daily September 21, 2020 The county has taken another step toward transferring land along the Snake River from federal to county ownership. The Teton County Board of County Commissioners approved a contract for the next stage of the process with Western Land Group, a consultant it hired to facilitate the transfers, which have been discussed for more than 20 years. The contract, approved Sept. 15, will see the county spend $40,000 to prepare a “term sheet” for U.S. Senator John Barrasso, R-Wyo., outlining what the county wants to see in<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Jackson Hole News &amp; Guide<br />
By Billy Arnold Jackson Hole Daily<br />
</strong><strong>September 21, 2020</strong></p>
<p>The county has taken another step toward transferring land along the Snake River from federal to county ownership.</p>
<p>The Teton County Board of County Commissioners approved a contract for the next stage of the process with Western Land Group, a consultant it hired to facilitate the transfers, which have been discussed for more than 20 years. The contract, approved Sept. 15, will see the county spend $40,000 to prepare a “term sheet” for U.S. Senator John Barrasso, R-Wyo., outlining what the county wants to see in the legislation intended to transfer the parcels. Barrasso’s office will draft the bill.</p>
<p>“I think this is really important,” Commissioner Greg Epstein said. “We’ve been working on this for many, many years. We have good momentum. I’m proud to be able to say we keep moving forward.”</p>
<p>The 20 or so parcels are owned and managed by the Bureau of Land Management, but their locations — scattered through riparian habitat roughly 80 miles northwest of the BLM’s Pinedale field office — make them difficult and expensive for the BLM to manage. They include the Wilson and South Park boat ramps, land north of Emily Stevens Park and popular BLM sites on Fall Creek Road.</p>
<p>The county has pursued different strategies in the past for transferring parcels, and different government entities have at times expressed interest in taking over the riparian lands. But Teton County has emerged as the entity most likely to take them over. Western Land Group recommended earlier this year that the county stick to a legislative approach, and its recommendation has, in turn, stuck.</p>
<p>Members of the public had expressed concern about the county commissioners’ earlier decision to fund a contract including only $20,000 worth of work toward a term sheet, even as other members of the community wondered whether cost savings could be found in the additional $40,000. The contract was approved in full, meaning that up to $60,000 is allocated.</p>
<p>What remains to be seen is what the term sheet will look like, and how closely it will hew to the 2008 ownership transfer plan that laid out guidelines for the exchanges.</p>
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		<title>Western Land Group drafted and successfully lobbied for enactment of H.R. 698, which became Public Law 115-252</title>
		<link>https://www.westernlandgroup.com/index.php/2019/01/22/water-authority-brings-new-water-storage-tank-online-2-2-2/</link>
		
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		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2019 17:59:04 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Press Releases]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://westernlandgroup.com/?p=618</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[The 115th Congress was short on accomplishments, especially in the public lands arena.&#160; However, Western Land Group did get one bill passed and is hopeful that during the first few months of the 116th Congress several additional bills will be enacted. H.R. 698 became Public Law 115-252 on October 3, 2018, and requires the United States to re-patent 148 acres of land to the Elkhorn Ranch near Rifle, Colorado. The land was originally patented as private land to the Elkhorn Ranch’s predecessors in the early 1900s, but the ownership was thrown into doubt by a 1949 government survey. Public law<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The 115th Congress was short on accomplishments, especially in the public lands arena.&nbsp; However, Western Land Group did get one bill passed and is hopeful that during the first few months of the 116th Congress several additional bills will be enacted.</p>
<p>H.R. 698 became Public Law 115-252 on October 3, 2018, and requires the United States to re-patent 148 acres of land to the Elkhorn Ranch near Rifle, Colorado. The land was originally patented as private land to the Elkhorn Ranch’s predecessors in the early 1900s, but the ownership was thrown into doubt by a 1949 government survey. Public law 155-252 confirms the original patents and restores the land into private ownership.”</p>
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		<title>Camp Elim/Long Meadow Ranch Land Exchange Closes in the Pike National Forest, Colorado</title>
		<link>https://www.westernlandgroup.com/index.php/2019/01/21/water-authority-brings-new-water-storage-tank-online-2-2/</link>
		
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		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Jan 2019 21:23:39 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Press Releases]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://westernlandgroup.com/?p=614</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[This assembled land exchange on the South Platte and Pikes Peak Ranger Districts provided numerous public benefits and addressed several Forest Service management issues.&#160; The 247 acres of land acquired by the United States include three inholdings along Rampart Range Road, portions of the Monument Spur Trail in Limbaugh Canyon near Larkspur, portions of Rule Ridge Road north of Woodland Park, inholdings along South Cheyenne Creek near Gold Camp Road southwest of Colorado Springs, and opportunities for improved parking along Highway 285 for the Ben Tyler Trail/Lost Creek Wilderness trailhead. The seven federal parcels conveyed to private ownership in the<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This assembled land exchange on the South Platte and Pikes Peak Ranger Districts provided numerous public benefits and addressed several Forest Service management issues.&nbsp; The 247 acres of land acquired by the United States include three inholdings along Rampart Range Road, portions of the Monument Spur Trail in Limbaugh Canyon near Larkspur, portions of Rule Ridge Road north of Woodland Park, inholdings along South Cheyenne Creek near Gold Camp Road southwest of Colorado Springs, and opportunities for improved parking along Highway 285 for the Ben Tyler Trail/Lost Creek Wilderness trailhead.</p>
<p>The seven federal parcels conveyed to private ownership in the exchange have historic uses that impaired their National Forest character, including an organizational camp (Camp Elim), four recreational residence cabins in Douglas County, youth camp programming (Camp Shady Brook), and the access between portions of a legacy ranch (Long Meadow Ranch).</p>
<p>Western Land Group represented Camp Elim, Camp Shady Brook, Long Meadow Ranch, and cabin owners in the exchange.&nbsp; Our facilitation services included identifying and securing non-federal lands for the exchange, removing withdrawals for Power Site Classifications and the Manitou Experimental Forest on federal parcels, and addressing appraisal issues.</p>
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		<title>Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority approves land exchange</title>
		<link>https://www.westernlandgroup.com/index.php/2019/01/21/bureau-of-land-management-to-build-parking-for-sutey-ranch-2/</link>
		
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		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Jan 2019 21:17:04 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[News Articles]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://westernlandgroup.com/?p=609</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[The Associated Press Sunday, January 6, 2019 JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A state agency plans to swap land in southeast Alaska for federal land that can be developed for timber sales. The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority board on Thursday approved a land exchange with the U.S. Forest Service that will trade 18,000 acres (7,284 hectares) of trust lands for 20,000 acres (8,094 hectares) of federal land, the Juneau Empire reported . The trust lands are scattered throughout southeast Alaska and the exact amount to be traded must be worked out. Wyn Menefee, director of the trust authority land office,<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>The Associated Press<br />
</strong><strong>Sunday, January 6, 2019</strong></p>
<p>JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A state agency plans to swap land in southeast Alaska for federal land that can be developed for timber sales.</p>
<p>The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority board on Thursday approved a land exchange with the U.S. Forest Service that will trade 18,000 acres (7,284 hectares) of trust lands for 20,000 acres (8,094 hectares) of federal land, the Juneau Empire reported .</p>
<p>The trust lands are scattered throughout southeast Alaska and the exact amount to be traded must be worked out. Wyn Menefee, director of the trust authority land office, said the land exchange will be the biggest in the trust’s history.</p>
<p>The trust was created to provide leadership in services for trust beneficiaries, including Alaskans with mental illness, developmental disabilities, chronic alcoholism and traumatic brain injuries. The trust is endowed with about 1 million acres (404,685 hectares) of land.</p>
<p>The trust hopes to earn money off its newly acquired lands with timber harvesting. The acreage could yield $40 million to $60 million over the next 20 years, according to the trust.</p>
<p>Lands received by the U.S. Forest Service will be protected under terms of the trade, Menefee said. The overall aim is to protect “viewsheds” while logging less-sensitive lands to earn money for the trust.</p>
<p>The trust will give up nearly 2,700 acres (1,093 hectares) of land on Douglas Island that includes the Mount Bradley Trail, known locally as the Mount Jumbo Trail. The Forest Service as part of the deal will not allow logging on lands it’s receiving, Menefee said.</p>
<p>“The Forest Service won’t be doing any timber cuts on it,” Menefee said. “It will most likely be managed for recreation.”</p>
<p>Forest Service representatives could not be reached for comment because of the partial federal government shutdown.</p>
<p>The amount of land received by the trust will depend on appraisals. Appraisers have not completed their work.</p>
<p>It’s also not clear whether all the land the trust gains will be used for timber, Menefee said. If there are more lucrative uses, trust officials will consider them.</p>
<p>“Timber harvest is one of the primary ways that the trust can monetize its assets but other potential revenue generation options will always be considered,” Menefee said by email.</p>
<p>An initial land exchange is planned for January. A second phase, including the parcel on Douglas Island, is planned for 2020.</p>
<p>The board’s approval was one of the last steps in a process that has taken more than a decade. The exchange required both state and federal legislation.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump signed a federal bill into law in May 2017. Former Gov. Bill Walker signed Senate Bill 88 into law in October 2017. Both bills authorized the exchange.</p>
<p>The federal bill states that the primary goals of the exchange are to preserve the natural beauty of Southeast while creating jobs and serving the goals of the trust.</p>
<p>Menefee said the deal is a “win-win” for the trust and the Forest Service.</p>
<p>The Associated Press</p>
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		<title>Sleeping Lion Ranch Closes Exchange with CO State Land Board</title>
		<link>https://www.westernlandgroup.com/index.php/2018/06/05/water-authority-brings-new-water-storage-tank-online-2/</link>
		
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		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Jun 2018 17:26:44 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Press Releases]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://westernlandgroup.com/?p=593</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Western Land Group helped negotiate, facilitate and close a land swap between the Colorado State Land Board and the Sleeping Lion Ranch south of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in May 2018. By relinquishing state land that was surrounded by private lands and acquiring ranch lands next to the Routt National Forest, this exchange will help the state generate funds for public schools and provide access to the forest for recreation. The Sleeping Lion Ranch also benefits by consolidating its holdings and acquiring a section of land that will allow for better management of ranch property.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Western Land Group helped negotiate, facilitate and close a land swap between the Colorado State Land Board and the Sleeping Lion Ranch south of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in May 2018. By relinquishing state land that was surrounded by private lands and acquiring ranch lands next to the Routt National Forest, this exchange will help the state generate funds for public schools and provide access to the forest for recreation. The Sleeping Lion Ranch also benefits by consolidating its holdings and acquiring a section of land that will allow for better management of ranch property.</p>
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		<title>Bureau of Land Management to build parking for Sutey Ranch</title>
		<link>https://www.westernlandgroup.com/index.php/2017/09/21/bureau-of-land-management-to-build-parking-for-sutey-ranch/</link>
		
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		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Sep 2017 18:28:17 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[News Articles]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://westernlandgroup.com/?p=577</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Aspen Public Radio Wednesday, September 20, 2017 By&#160;Elizabeth Stewart-Severy Hikers and hunters will soon be able to access public land acquired in a controversial land exchange earlier this year. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is scheduled to start construction this week of a small parking area at the entrance to Sutey Ranch outside of Carbondale. While the land has been public since March, it’s only been accessible on foot through the Red Hill recreation area. The parking lot is along County Road 112. Sutey Ranch was part of a land exchange with billionaire Leslie Wexner. The BLM traded about<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Aspen Public Radio<br />
</strong><strong>Wednesday, September 20, 2017</strong><br />
<span class="submitted"><span class="submitted-label">By</span>&nbsp;<span class="name">Elizabeth Stewart-Severy</span></span></p>
<p>Hikers and hunters will soon be able to access public land acquired in a controversial land exchange earlier this year.</p>
<p>The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is scheduled to start construction this week of a small parking area at the entrance to Sutey Ranch outside of Carbondale. While the land has been public since March, it’s only been accessible on foot through the Red Hill recreation area. The parking lot is along County Road 112.</p>
<p>Sutey Ranch was part of a land exchange with billionaire Leslie Wexner. The BLM traded about 1,200 acres of difficult to access land near the base of Mt. Sopris for 670 acres of once-private property. This led to a protracted legal battle over the value of the land.</p>
<p>The federal agency is slated to start work on a management plan for the area this winter; until that is established, no motorized vehicles or bikes are allowed.</p>
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		<title>U.S Senate approves budget, which includes land exchange</title>
		<link>https://www.westernlandgroup.com/index.php/2017/05/08/u-s-senate-approves-budget-which-includes-land-exchange/</link>
		
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		<pubDate>Mon, 08 May 2017 10:33:51 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[News Articles]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://westernlandgroup.com/?p=566</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[KRBD Community Radio May 4, 2017 By Leila Kheiry By a wide margin, the U.S. Senate on Thursday approved a spending plan to carry the government through the fall. The measure includes a provision to trade U.S. Forest Service land for land currently owned by the Alaska Mental Health Trust. The bill now heads to President Donald Trump for his signature. The land exchange will trade about 20,000 acres of federal land on Prince of Wales Island and in the Shelter Cove area for about 18,000 acres of Trust land, including Deer Mountain near Ketchikan and land above homes in<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="headline"><strong>KRBD Community Radio<br />
May 4, 2017</strong><br />
<strong>By Leila Kheiry<br />
</strong></p>
<p class="headline">By a wide margin, the U.S. Senate on Thursday approved a spending plan to carry the government through the fall. The measure includes a provision to trade U.S. Forest Service land for land currently owned by the Alaska Mental Health Trust.</p>
<p>The bill now heads to President Donald Trump for his signature.</p>
<p>The land exchange will trade about 20,000 acres of federal land on Prince of Wales Island and in the Shelter Cove area for about 18,000 acres of Trust land, including Deer Mountain near Ketchikan and land above homes in Petersburg.</p>
<p>In a media teleconference Thursday morning, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said the land exchange has been in the works for a long time, and has broad support from community members, state and Alaska Mental Health Trust officials, and the timber industry.</p>
<p>“You’ve got Viking over there that are very, very worried about any immediate or near-term supply of timber,” she said.</p>
<p>Viking Lumber on Prince of Wales Island is the last mid-size mill operating in the region. Owners have said that without a known timber supply, it would have to close.</p>
<p>Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office plans to log the land once the trade is completed. Proceeds from the timber harvest will be used to fund mental health services in the state.</p>
<p>Murkowski noted that the omnibus spending bill also includes a provision to strengthen biomass as an alternative energy option. She said that through the bill, biomass, or wood energy, has been redefined as a carbon-neutral energy source.</p>
<p>That way, Murkowski said, biomass projects will be eligible for federal tax credits and other renewable-energy incentive programs.</p>
<p>“For instance, out there at Ward Cove, what they’ve been trying to do with the pellets,” she said. “Maybe they’d have the ability to access some federal grant monies that would now be made available because biomass is considered a renewable energy.”</p>
<p>Tongass Forest Enterprises in the Ward Cove area is a Ketchikan company that produces wood pellets for local customers. One of its customers is the Ketchikan International Airport, which installed a biomass boiler last year.</p>
<p>The omnibus bill also includes funding for federal payments in lieu of taxes, or PILT, which goes to local communities affected by tax-exempt federal property. But, Murkowski said, they were not able to include a provision for Secure Rural Schools.</p>
<p>That federal funding program provides money to communities surrounded by national forest land. Murkowski said there already is an effort in the works to fund Secure Rural Schools in the FY2018 budget.</p>
<p>Murkowski said a long-term solution is needed.</p>
<p>“We know that our SRS-reliant communities just get pulled back and forth and the uncertainty that’s created when you don’t know whether or not a significant portion of your community’s budget is going to be able to be funded, because you don’t know if SRS funding is coming,” she said. “We want to get beyond that.”</p>
<p>The Ketchikan Gateway Borough received about a million dollars a year for the past two years through Secure Rural Schools. The Tongass National Forest makes up about 97 percent of the land within borough boundaries.</p>
<p>The Senate approved the trillion-dollar omnibus bill in a vote of 79-18. Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan joined Murkowski to vote in favor of the bill, which funds the government through September.</p>
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		<title>BLM land swap with billionaire final after appeal rejected</title>
		<link>https://www.westernlandgroup.com/index.php/2017/03/29/blm-land-swap-with-billionaire-final-after-appeal-rejected/</link>
		
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		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Mar 2017 17:29:30 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[News Articles]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://westernlandgroup.com/?p=556</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Grand Juntion Sentinel Tuesday, March 28, 2017 By Dennis Webb An Ohio billionaire and the Bureau of Land Management on Monday completed a complex western Colorado land swap after opponents lost an appeal challenging the deal. The Interior Board of Land Appeals rejected arguments by a group called Colorado Wild Public Lands, including the group’s contention that the BLM grossly undervalued the acreage it was giving up. Under the exchange, Leslie Wexner and his wife, Abigail, gained nearly 1,300 acres at the base of Mount Sopris south of Carbondale, consolidating their ranch holdings there. The BLM said that land was<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="headline"><strong>Grand Juntion Sentinel<br />
</strong><strong>Tuesday, March 28, 2017</strong><br />
<strong>By Dennis Webb</strong></p>
<p>An Ohio billionaire and the Bureau of Land Management on Monday completed a complex western Colorado land swap after opponents lost an appeal challenging the deal.</p>
<p>The Interior Board of Land Appeals rejected arguments by a group called Colorado Wild Public Lands, including the group’s contention that the BLM grossly undervalued the acreage it was giving up.</p>
<p>Under the exchange, Leslie Wexner and his wife, Abigail, gained nearly 1,300 acres at the base of Mount Sopris south of Carbondale, consolidating their ranch holdings there.</p>
<p>The BLM said that land was largely inaccessible to the public. In return, the public received about 670 acres the agency says has high recreational value in the Carbondale area. These include 112 acres in Prince Creek south of Carbondale, providing legal access to trails in a popular mountain biking area, and the 557-acre Sutey Ranch north of Carbondale, which contains big-game winter habitat.</p>
<p>The Wexners committed to donate 235 acres of the Sutey property separate from the exchange. That land is valued at $2.24 million. The BLM also gave up about 200 acres with little public access on Horse Mountain in Eagle County.</p>
<p>Leslie Wexner founded the Limited Brands, now L Brands, which includes Victoria’s Secret and Bath &amp; Body Works.</p>
<p>Colorado Wild Public Lands, which includes some Roaring Fork Valley residents, had argued in part that the BLM improperly relied on a $2,500-an-acre appraisal of a 1,240-acre parcel it was trading to the Wexners. The BLM cited the land’s lack of legal vehicle access, but the group said the appraisal ignored the parcel’s intended future use as part of its ranch.</p>
<p>The IBLA said the appeal mistakenly focused on the access the Wexners would gain to the parcel through their other land once they acquired it, rather than what access any potential buyer would have.</p>
<p>Hawk Greenway, a Colorado Wild Public Lands member, said the group is evaluating its options for appealing Monday’s ruling, either by asking the IBLA to reconsider or taking action in court. He said he didn’t know whether the exchange could be reversed even if the group wins on further appeal.</p>
<p>For now, he said, “I’m still trying to get my head around how they could so manipulate the appraisal process.”</p>
<p>He believes the deal shortchanges taxpayers, even more so because the Wexners will be able to take a tax deduction for the part of the Sutey Ranch that they donated.</p>
<p>“We’re paying them to take our land away from us. That just is astounding to me,” he said.</p>
<p>The BLM had said the values of the land swap would have been skewed in the government’s favor if that acreage had been included in it rather than donated separately.</p>
<p>“Having the (exchange) decision affirmed is great news for public lands in the Roaring Fork Valley. This land exchange provides a substantial public benefit by conserving lands for wildlife, providing opportunities for recreation, and consolidating land ownership,” Shonna Dooman, acting field manager for the BLM’s Colorado River Valley Field Office, said in a news release.</p>
<p>The exchange had support from Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle counties, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Aspen Valley Land Trust.</p>
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		<title>BLM completes Sutey Ranch land exchange</title>
		<link>https://www.westernlandgroup.com/index.php/2017/03/27/blm-completes-sutey-ranch-land-exchange/</link>
		
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		<pubDate>Mon, 27 Mar 2017 18:08:47 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Press Releases]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[News Release Colorado River Valley Field Office, Colorado March 27, 2017 Contact: David Boyd, Public Affairs Specialist, (970) 876-9008 SILT, Colo. – Today the Bureau of Land Management and proponents of the Sutey Ranch Land Exchange recorded the final documents completing the exchange of lands in Eagle, Garfield, and Pitkin counties. The closing follows today’s Interior Board of Land Appeals’ affirmation of the BLM’s decision to complete the exchange. “Having the decision affirmed is great news for public lands in the Roaring Fork Valley,” said Shonna Dooman, acting field manager of the BLM’s Colorado River Valley Field Office. “This land<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span>]]></description>
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<p>News Release Colorado River Valley Field Office, Colorado<br />
March 27, 2017<br />
Contact: David Boyd, Public Affairs Specialist, (970) 876-9008</p>
<p>SILT, Colo. – Today the Bureau of Land Management and proponents of the Sutey Ranch Land Exchange recorded the final documents completing the exchange of lands in Eagle, Garfield, and Pitkin counties. The closing follows today’s Interior Board of Land Appeals’ affirmation of the BLM’s decision to complete the exchange.</p>
<p>“Having the decision affirmed is great news for public lands in the Roaring Fork Valley,” said Shonna Dooman, acting field manager of the BLM’s Colorado River Valley Field Office. “This land exchange provides a substantial public benefit by conserving lands for wildlife, providing opportunities for recreation, and consolidating land ownership,”</p>
<p>The 557-acre Sutey Ranch north of Carbondale and 112-acre Haines Parcel along Prince Creek south of Carbondale are now in public hands. The parcels that became private lands through the exchange are all protected with conservation easements.</p>
<p>The Sutey Ranch provides critical big game winter habitat and has the potential to provide significant recreational opportunities based on its location adjacent to the BLM’s popular Red Hill Special Recreation Management Area. Until a site-specific management plan can be developed for this area, public access will be limited to foot travel from the Red Hill SRMA.</p>
<p>“While we will consider public access to this property off County Road 112 in the future, there is currently no safe place to park,” Dooman said. “Until we develop a specific management plan, no motorized or mechanized access on the Sutey Ranch or parking along County Road 112 will be permitted.”</p>
<p>Acquiring the Haines Parcel resolves current trespass, traffic, and safety problems on private land by providing legal and safe public access to the trail system in the popular area known as The Crown. Hundreds of mountain bikers have been riding on this parcel to access public trails for many years, despite it being private land. They can now do so without trespassing.</p>
<p>The proponents, Leslie and Abigail Wexner, also donated $100,000 directly to the BLM for the development of a site-specific management plan for the Sutey Ranch, and $1 million to the Aspen Valley Land Trust to hold in perpetuity for BLM’s long-term management of the newly acquired properties.</p>
<p>“We want to begin developing the management plan for the Sutey Ranch property as soon as possible, and will likely seek public involvement beginning this summer,” Dooman said.</p>
<p>The exchange is the result of a proposal brought to the BLM by the Western Land Group in 2011. Through extensive local coordination, the exchange has received broad public support.</p>
<p>To acquire the new parcels, the BLM exchanged three parcels totaling 1,268 acres in Pitkin County south of Carbondale that were mostly surrounded by private land and difficult for the public to access. In Eagle County, BLM exchanged three parcels southwest of Eagle totaling 201 acres on Horse Mountain that have little public access.</p>
<p>The land exchange proponents are placing conservation easements preventing development on those lands transferred out of Federal ownership.</p>
<p>Land exchanges are evaluated on a value-for-value rather than an acre-for-acre basis. Because the appraisals were skewed so far in favor of the United States and public, the proponent donated 235 acres of the Sutey property valued at $2.24 million.</p>
<p>“Rather than request a cash equalization payment to balance the value of the exchange, the proponents made a significant donation in land value to the public,” Dooman said.</p>
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