Dear Editor:

Over the last year or so, sportsmen who hunt on public lands in the vicinity of William Koch's Bear Ranch (east of Paonia Reservoir) have been asking pointed questions about a proposed land exchange there. As many locals already know, this land exchange would trade 1,846 acres of high elevation (mostly BLM) land east of the Paonia Reservoir for 911 acres of private land near Sapinero/the Curecanti NRA, just south of Blue Mesa Reservoir, and an 80-acre parcel within Dinosaur National Monument in Utah.

According to local Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) members who hunt this terrain, the proposed land exchange is a bad deal for our community and the general public, but it is especially bad for hunters. Around 1,800 acres of excellent elk, deer, turkey and bear hunting land currently under the BLM at the base of the Raggeds Wilderness area is being sought for complete privatization by Bill Koch, who already owns thousands of acres in the vicinity. This land trade would also reduce the ability of the public to reach the Ragged Mountain Basin and would transfer out of public ownership 1,800 acres of prime elk habitat that have nothing to do with the division of the Bear Ranch.

Other things worth pointing out regarding the two parcels Mr. Koch wants to trade: First, you can't hunt Dinosaur National Monument. Second, while you can hunt areas of the Curecanti NRA, this particular spot is not a hunting destination. Third, the land Mr. Koch would obtain is "awesome country." As one of our local BHA members says, "I bow hunt there for elk, my friends bow hunt there, lots of people ... muzzleload and rifle hunt there. Access is excellent, and from this BLM land, you can go as deep as you want into serious backcountry for more hunting and fishing. It is too precious to simply trade off for land that most folks will never even step foot on. Bottom line, we are losing great public hunting land so an incredibly rich individual can fence it off, put up no trespassing/no hunting signs and horde it."

BHA understands that healthy public wildlife habitat, rivers and streams are the foundation supporting the American pastimes of hunting and fishing. We believe there is a place for private lands in this equation, but that the loss of irreplaceable public lands to benefit one (very wealthy) individual is a travesty. The keystone of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is the principle that wildlife are owned by no one, and are to be held in trust for the benefit of all people by government. For hunters, this means that we all have access to the enjoyment and material benefits (harvests) of wildlife as allocated by law. This access is irrespective of our social standing, wealth, or ownership of land. This proposed Bear Ranch land exchange would make a mockery of this principle, taking public lands from the many for the benefit of the one.

David Lien

Co-chair

Colorado Backcountry

Hunters & Anglers

Colorado Springs