MvB Wars: Downvalley Arena

Victoria’s Secret – that all-American bastion of late night fun and frivolity – is run by Columbus based, low-key Leslie (“Les”) Wexner. He’s worth $7-8,000,000,000 according to official scorekeeper Forbes Magazine. He also controls The Limited, Pink, and Express. And he doesn’t seem like a guy who wants to risk the wrath of the local Roaring Fork Millionaires.

But for the past four years, he’s been trying to get federal agencies to swap land with him near Carbondale at the base of Mt. Sopris. According to High Country News, “Since 2002, Wexner has spent more than $85 million on 12 separate properties, effectively surrounding a 1,200-acre parcel of public land with his private 4,790 acres.” And he’s got his eyes on bringing that section into the fold.

The government engages in land swaps all the time. Back in the 19th century, vast swathes of public land were deeded to the railroads and timber companies in order to entice them to invest in laying track through desolate places. (and who says the government can’t pick winners?) Some of those gifts resulted on a checkerboard pattern – evenly spaced sections of land owned alternately by the government (you and me) and some private entity, like a railroad or timber company. Look at any Forest Service map, and the blocks will jump out at you, looking a little odd. So, over time, the BLM and Forest Service have tried to swap land to make things less complicated.

There are rules about all this. The lands to be exchanged have to be approximately equal in value; public access to historically used areas can not be compromised, that sort of thing. There are administrative courts set up to adjudicate this, and it’s all done in public, with ample time for study and input.

And Wexner has followed all these rules, to be sure. But there is still some opposition to what he is doing. For one thing, he wants not some arid scrubland, but a dense conifer forest on the slopes on an iconic peak, visible throughout the valley. For another, the land is not the typical “checkerboard” swap, but a single block of 1200 acres. And, it leads to and includes areas on the mountain which have long been used by hunters, hikers, and more recently hikers and bikers. But it is a bit hard to get to.

So Wexner did something cagey. he went out and bought a few other parcels of land, to the north, lower in elevation and closer to where folks are living. Those areas – Sutey Ranch, and the “West Crown” – are already home to mountain bike invasion, and Wexner argues that making the swap would legalize the bandit trails there.

It’s the job of, in this case, the Department of the Interior (Bureau of Land Management) to appraise all the land involved to set the basis for a fair trade. Part of the argument revolves around this appraisal. BLM says the land on the slopes of Sopris, which Wexner would merge with his holdings, is remote, and of little value. That may be true now, as it can’t easily be accessed anymore, surrounded as it has become by private land. So, it says $2500/acre is a fair value. But, once consolidated, the entire parcel becomes much more valuable, should Wexner or his heirs ever decide to sell  – say, $15,000/acre based on nearby parcels.

Since Wexner is only offering about half the acreage he is getting, and the value is so much greater, persistent formal objections have been raised, slowing down the process of the exchange. To sweeten the pot, Wexner threw in a few small (to him) coins: place the Sopris land he receives in a permanent conservation easement (meaning development is banned in perpetuity), and give the BLM $1,100,000 to develop a management plan for the Sutey Ranch, and fund that plan over the long term. When it was discovered that 40-50 bull elk are wintering on the Sutey land, well, most of the millionaires came around. They just love those elk herds, enough so they’ve built fencing along 20 miles of Highway 82 to keep them safe when trying to cross. Aspen Valley Land Trust, supports the exchange, as does the city of Carbondale, Roaring Fork Audubon, the Colorado Division of Wildlife and others. So it looked like the deal would go through,

But one conservation group, apparently formed just for this purpose, remains a hold-out. Basalt-based Colorado Wild Public Lands has appealed the decision last December to the BLM. If turned down there, they are prepared to to file suit in US District Court. Poor Les Wexner, now 78 years old; all he wants is 6000 acres on which to be left in peace. By the time he gets it, he may be able to Rest In Peace there.

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