Public may get sold down river
By Charlie Meyers
Denver Post Outdoors Editor
Article Published: Sunday, February 06, 2005
From a certain philosophical vantage point looking down on this broad sweep of the Blue River, the proposal looks like just another of those garden-variety exchanges federal land agencies periodically make as an article of good housekeeping. You know the kind. Bureau of Land Management swaps isolated parcels to private landowner for more manageable holdings elsewhere. Net result: a more tidy property map, fewer headaches and, presumably, a more satisfied public.
But that's where this view of the Blue changes, where this place that BLM is pondering divestment of two key public-access tracts on a major trout stream becomes clouded in a bureaucratic haze comprised of suspicion and mistrust.
<!-- cdaFreeFormDetailByName.strSQL = FreeForm_GetTextBySectionIDPaperID @Name = 'ArticleAd', @PaperID = '36', @SectionID = '110', @ArticleID = '2694889', @Filter = 'Article', @LiveFilter = '1', @DateTimeContext = '2/6/2005 9:03:47 AM' --><!-- ArticleAd not found -->Part of the suspicion arises from the fact that the proponent of the swap and owner of the ranch is Paul Tudor Jones, who amassed a large fortune as a Wall Street commodities trader and who already has established a track record of leveraging deals with BLM advantageous to his Blue Valley Ranch.
The earlier exchange of similar property was completed in 1999, just in time for the ranch to start pressing for the current trade. This information proved one of the few useful tidbits gleaned from a telephone interview with Susan Cassel, realty specialist with the BLM district office in nearby Kremmling.
Asked certain simple facts about the matter, Cassel became increasingly defensive and vague over a recommendation that has been made into a formal document and sent to BLM headquarters in Washington, D.C., for further review.
Pressed for details of this public record, Cassel said, "It's in a proposal stage. I can't say what we get and what we won't."
Questioned further about the parcels involved, Cassel replied, "I can't say. I have other things with this job that take my time."
Such a contrary attitude on the part of a key public official pretty much covers the mistrust part.
Information from other sources reveals that the two bookend BLM tracts, each about a quarter-mile long, bracket the Blue Valley Ranch river property. The upper segment on the east side of the stream is landlocked, accessible only by floating the river.
The downstream parcel, on the west, can be reached from foot off the so-called Trough Road.
As land goes, these plots don't exactly jump off the map. But as the real estate industry keeps telling us, it's all about the location. Therein lies a tale.
The Blue Valley property - best guesses put the size at about 30,000 acres - commands a major part of the Blue River where it flows between Green Mountain Reservoir and its confluence with the Colorado River.
With his associates, Jones manages the ranch in part for guests who pay handsomely to fish for large trout planted there. Some of the fish occasionally stray to this public access, where they can be caught by the great unwashed.
But that's just the start. What nettles Jones most is that these parcels serve as way stations for rafters who launch at the Bureau of Reclamation site below Green Mountain Dam. The ongoing feud between ranch and rafters is well documented in Grand County law enforcement files. Accusation of overzealous prosecution of trespassers abound, claims given weight by the fact that the ranch employs law enforcement officers who moonlight as off-duty patrolmen.
By swapping out these vexing access points, Jones eliminates these rest stops and turns the float into a roughly 15-mile marathon.
With every barter, some value must be given. The ranch proposes to acquire and transfer title to a parcel along the east bank of the Blue where it joins the Colorado. But this worth must be gauged against the fact that the current owner, Jim Yust, has allowed public fishing all along. Further, anglers classify this as "frog water," too slow moving to rank as a prime fishery.
As another carrot, Jones would provide a more advantageous walk-in point to the downstream end of the 3-mile- long Bureau of Reclamation property below the dam.
BLM also would receive a tract off County Road 1 considerably west of the river suitable for big-game habitat. Cassel again declined to give details about this property, but, as one observer put it, "We've got lots more places for big game than for good trout fishing. Once that river access is gone, it's never coming back."
Under the review process, a team in Washington will examine the proposal and, if approved, send it back to Kremmling to begin an Environmental Impact Statement process and public comment period.
Here's where things get really interesting. BLM procedure provides that the proponent, Blue Valley Ranch, commissions and pays for the EIS, a bought-and-paid-for process that casts further skepticism on the equilibrium of the system. Further, angler Kevin Williams reports that on an autumn visit to one of the BLM sites, he encountered an archeologist conducting a study.
Williams said when asked whom he worked for, the man replied, "Mr. Jones." A wary observer might suspect a certain unnatural confidence on the part of the proponent, considering that the formal EIS process remains many months away.
Whether this deal already is cut and dried remains to be seen. What's more certain is that it well may stand as a litmus of BLM's resolve when it comes to a balance between power and influence vs. the public good.
By Charlie Meyers
Denver Post Outdoors Editor
Article Published: Sunday, February 06, 2005
From a certain philosophical vantage point looking down on this broad sweep of the Blue River, the proposal looks like just another of those garden-variety exchanges federal land agencies periodically make as an article of good housekeeping. You know the kind. Bureau of Land Management swaps isolated parcels to private landowner for more manageable holdings elsewhere. Net result: a more tidy property map, fewer headaches and, presumably, a more satisfied public.
But that's where this view of the Blue changes, where this place that BLM is pondering divestment of two key public-access tracts on a major trout stream becomes clouded in a bureaucratic haze comprised of suspicion and mistrust.
<!-- cdaFreeFormDetailByName.strSQL = FreeForm_GetTextBySectionIDPaperID @Name = 'ArticleAd', @PaperID = '36', @SectionID = '110', @ArticleID = '2694889', @Filter = 'Article', @LiveFilter = '1', @DateTimeContext = '2/6/2005 9:03:47 AM' --><!-- ArticleAd not found -->Part of the suspicion arises from the fact that the proponent of the swap and owner of the ranch is Paul Tudor Jones, who amassed a large fortune as a Wall Street commodities trader and who already has established a track record of leveraging deals with BLM advantageous to his Blue Valley Ranch.
The earlier exchange of similar property was completed in 1999, just in time for the ranch to start pressing for the current trade. This information proved one of the few useful tidbits gleaned from a telephone interview with Susan Cassel, realty specialist with the BLM district office in nearby Kremmling.
Asked certain simple facts about the matter, Cassel became increasingly defensive and vague over a recommendation that has been made into a formal document and sent to BLM headquarters in Washington, D.C., for further review.
Pressed for details of this public record, Cassel said, "It's in a proposal stage. I can't say what we get and what we won't."
Questioned further about the parcels involved, Cassel replied, "I can't say. I have other things with this job that take my time."
Such a contrary attitude on the part of a key public official pretty much covers the mistrust part.
Information from other sources reveals that the two bookend BLM tracts, each about a quarter-mile long, bracket the Blue Valley Ranch river property. The upper segment on the east side of the stream is landlocked, accessible only by floating the river.
The downstream parcel, on the west, can be reached from foot off the so-called Trough Road.
As land goes, these plots don't exactly jump off the map. But as the real estate industry keeps telling us, it's all about the location. Therein lies a tale.
The Blue Valley property - best guesses put the size at about 30,000 acres - commands a major part of the Blue River where it flows between Green Mountain Reservoir and its confluence with the Colorado River.
With his associates, Jones manages the ranch in part for guests who pay handsomely to fish for large trout planted there. Some of the fish occasionally stray to this public access, where they can be caught by the great unwashed.
But that's just the start. What nettles Jones most is that these parcels serve as way stations for rafters who launch at the Bureau of Reclamation site below Green Mountain Dam. The ongoing feud between ranch and rafters is well documented in Grand County law enforcement files. Accusation of overzealous prosecution of trespassers abound, claims given weight by the fact that the ranch employs law enforcement officers who moonlight as off-duty patrolmen.
By swapping out these vexing access points, Jones eliminates these rest stops and turns the float into a roughly 15-mile marathon.
With every barter, some value must be given. The ranch proposes to acquire and transfer title to a parcel along the east bank of the Blue where it joins the Colorado. But this worth must be gauged against the fact that the current owner, Jim Yust, has allowed public fishing all along. Further, anglers classify this as "frog water," too slow moving to rank as a prime fishery.
As another carrot, Jones would provide a more advantageous walk-in point to the downstream end of the 3-mile- long Bureau of Reclamation property below the dam.
BLM also would receive a tract off County Road 1 considerably west of the river suitable for big-game habitat. Cassel again declined to give details about this property, but, as one observer put it, "We've got lots more places for big game than for good trout fishing. Once that river access is gone, it's never coming back."
Under the review process, a team in Washington will examine the proposal and, if approved, send it back to Kremmling to begin an Environmental Impact Statement process and public comment period.
Here's where things get really interesting. BLM procedure provides that the proponent, Blue Valley Ranch, commissions and pays for the EIS, a bought-and-paid-for process that casts further skepticism on the equilibrium of the system. Further, angler Kevin Williams reports that on an autumn visit to one of the BLM sites, he encountered an archeologist conducting a study.
Williams said when asked whom he worked for, the man replied, "Mr. Jones." A wary observer might suspect a certain unnatural confidence on the part of the proponent, considering that the formal EIS process remains many months away.
Whether this deal already is cut and dried remains to be seen. What's more certain is that it well may stand as a litmus of BLM's resolve when it comes to a balance between power and influence vs. the public good.
