For Immediate Release
November 11, 2005

Contact Information

LARAMIE – Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, a Laramie-based conservation group, will propose a compromise solution to the Devil’s Canyon Land Exchange controversy at a public hearing to be held tonight at 7 p.m. at the Albany County Library.

The proposed solution would allow wealthy landowner Pat Broe to acquire for his Notch Peak Ranch 2,740 acres of National Forest and BLM land in the Laramie Peak unit of the Medicine Bow National Forest, lands which have no public access. In exchange, 2,979 acres of private land in the Devil’s Canyon area of the Big Horn Mountains, to which there is good public access, would be conveyed into public ownership. In the BCA proposal, the Reese Mountain unit of Forest Service lands, which has legal public access, would remain in public hands.

The Reese Mountain Forest Service lands, which BCA proposes to exclude from the land exchange, has some of the most important bighorn sheep winter ranges in the Laramie Range, and also provides habitat for the Laramie columbine, a rare wildflower native to a small part of the range. This area is accessible to the public through access points provided by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department through the Laramie Peak Habitat Management Area.

Under the land exchange originally proposed by the Notch Peak Ranch, Broe would acquire 5,080 acres of public lands in exchange for only 3,783 acres of private lands to be converted to public ownership, plus cash considerations. “The land exchange as originally proposed by Pat Broe is not in the public interest because the public would get shortchanged on acreage, and crucial winter ranges for bighorn sheep would fall into private ownership,” said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. “We propose a common-sense exchange that would trade the lands acre-for-acre, protect sensitive wildlife habitats under Forest Service stewardship, and provide a net gain for public access across the state.”

Under the BCA proposal, the National Forest boundaries would remain as they are today, with no change in the agency’s ability to respond to forest fires. Differences in land values could be compensated through cash considerations, if necessary.

BCA will also propose that the Reese Mountain unit become a Research Natural Area through a Forest Plan Amendment, which would protect the natural qualities of the area while allowing the continuation of current uses.

“Mr. Broe has said that he plans to turn over the Reese Mountain unit to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in any case,” added Molvar. “If he doesn’t want this parcel for the Notch Peak Ranch, it would seem to be a no-brainer to just leave it as Forest Service land.”

Photos of the Reese Mountain unit are available for publication upon request.

Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance (307) 742-7978