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.

This assembled land exchange on the South Platte and Pikes Peak Ranger Districts provided numerous public benefits and addressed several Forest Service management issues.  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 […]

The 115th Congress was short on accomplishments, especially in the public lands arena.  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 […]

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 […]