Federal government says land exchange proposed by billionaire in Grand and Summit counties is complete
While local and state officials in Colorado have supported the land exchange, some local anglers have been saddened about the loss of a favorite fishing spot
Officials in Colorado are applauding after the federal government announced Monday Jan. 13 that it has completed a land exchange trading parcels of private land for public land in Summit and Grand counties.
The Bureau of Land Management said in a news release Monday that it has closed on the land exchange with Blue Valley Ranch, which is owned by billionaire Paul Tudor Jones II. The Blue Valley Ranch land exchange, which has been decades in the making, trades nine parcels of federal land totaling 1,489 acres in Grand County for nine parcels of private land totaling 1,830 acres in Grand and Summit counties.
The exchange will be implemented on public lands as weather allows, according to the news release.
“We congratulate the Colorado Bureau of Land Management and other local stakeholders in finalizing this exchange,” Colorado Department of Natural Resources Executive Director Dan Gibbs said in a statement. “The Blue River is treasured by Summit and Grand County residents and all Coloradans.”
The land exchange was first proposed in some form in 2001, with the stated purposes of addressing the “checkerboard nature” of ownership in the area.
Blue Valley Ranch has said that the public gains more from the land exchange than it loses. As part of the exchange, the ranch has agreed to cover the costs of river restoration work for a three-quarter-mile stretch of the Blue River near its confluence with the Colorado River, pay for the creation of the Confluence Recreation Area with more than 2 miles of new walking trails and wheel-chair accessible fishing platforms and provide Summit County with $600,000 for new open space acquisition.
For those who float the river, a permanent, seasonal takeout and rest stop near the Spring Creek River Bridge will be constructed, with another rest stop 3 miles downstream from the bridge as well. The exchange will also result in more than a mile and a half of hike-in access to the Blue River that is currently inaccessible except by floating.
“Summit County commissioners have remained steadfast in their support of the land exchange since its inception and commend all of the parties involved for their commitment to bring us to this closing,” Summit County Commissioner Tamara Pogue said in a statement. “Our local communities look forward to the many public benefits it will bring, including the new Confluence Recreation Area near Kremmling funded by Blue Valley Ranch.”
Grand County commissioners have also expressed their support for the land exchange, according to the news release.
While some local anglers protested the loss of their favorite, public fishing spot, which became private through the exchange, the Colorado River Headwaters Chapter of Trout Unlimited has supported the land exchange.
Trout Unlimited chapter president Kirk Klancke in a statement pointed to the river restoration promised near the Blue River’s confluence with the Colorado River as “the most important concession” by Blue Valley Ranch. Klancke said the restoration project “will have positive impacts on the aquatic ecosystem … of the Blue River and downstream on the Colorado River.”
In contrast to the support from local and state officials, the nonprofit Colorado Wild Public Lands was a leading voice in opposition to the land exchange. Colorado Wild Public Lands wrote a 24-page protest of the land exchange. Among the nonprofit’s chief concerns was that the land exchange was proposed by a wealthy landowner, not by the public or the Bureau of Land Management itself.
“Immensely valuable public lands are to be traded away for restrictive access easements and non-guaranteed infrastructure improvements,” Colorado Wild Public Lands board member Anne Rickenbaugh wrote in protest of the exchange.
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