Recent News
March 2, 2021
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 […]
September 21, 2020
Jackson Hole News & 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 […]
January 22, 2019
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 […]
January 21, 2019
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 […]
January 21, 2019
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, […]
June 5, 2018
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.
September 21, 2017
Aspen Public Radio Wednesday, September 20, 2017 By 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 […]
May 8, 2017
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 […]
March 29, 2017
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 […]
March 27, 2017
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 […]