A 640-acre piece of high-elevation forest and meadowland is the
topic of a heated debate in central Colorado. The future of the
Little Cochetopa Creek School Section near Salida is now in the
hands of the State Land Board, and Chaffee County residents worry
the board will choose private development over public
domain.
A proposed land trade would give
ownership of Little Cochetopa to private developer Tom Smith from
Kansas City, Mo. Smith would then transfer ownership of his
3,400-acre ranch, located in south-central Colorado’s Conejos
County, to the state. Tim Heiser, a representative for Smith, says
his client has no plans to subdivide the school section. “He wants
to put the land into his estate for his kids,” Heiser
says.
Opponents of the trade say Little Cochetopa
is an important elk and deer migration area that provides the only
public access to almost 4,500 acres of Forest Service and Bureau of
Land Management property. In an attempt to stall the trade,
community members and Chaffee County Commissioners nominated Little
Cochetopa for inclusion in the state-run Stewardship Land
Trust.
The land-trade proposal, however, was
submitted before the land trust nomination, making the nomination
void if the trade is approved. Chaffee County resident Ed Rogers
says the board should consider the broader effects of the trade.
“They need to come here and look at this land,” he says. “Don’t
just sit there and give it away.”
The board
voiced its support for the land trade at a July 21 meeting, but
residents prevented a final decision by acquiring a temporary
restraining order against the board.
If the trade
goes through, the county and other interested parties may have the
chance to buy the development rights to the property – for
$540,000. But neighbors Dan Jones and Ide Trotter say public access
would be lost, regardless of who owns the development
rights.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Neighbors oppose land trade.
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