Good for local economy to sell federal lands?

When the federal government starts talking seriously about selling federal lands in Colorado to help balance the budget in the new big, beautiful bill, I get nervous.

That’s because I think the likely “land rush” created will only hurt our local economy and seriously degrade the value of property that many businesses and individuals already own, free and clear, right here in Grand County.

As many county residents know, Grand County land is mostly owned by the federal government, with about 70 percent under the ownership of Uncle Sam. That land is under federal jurisdictions of agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service (Department of Agriculture), Bureau of Land Management (Department of the Interior) and National Park lands (Rocky Mountain National Park — Department of the Interior).

I can see some local government types licking their lips over the prospect of federal land in Grand County going private, mainly because if that were to happen that land would be subject to property taxation that doesn’t currently exist. That would, theoretically, mean more revenue to local government.

But in reality I don’t think any gain in property taxes would outweigh the current “opportunity value” I see in our public lands here in the county. By that I mean that much of any such land that goes private would probably remain agricultural, which means the revenue from it would be minimal. Even if purchased for high use, such as for resorts or ski areas or logging, the minimal tax income won’t make up for what we would be losing.

Oh, and don’t forget the cost that local governments would suddenly assume as they would have to provide roads, fire protection, police protection and more on these lands. I think they would lose money.

By opportunity value I mean that simply the fact of having all these acres of federal land in the county, most of which is recreational and wilderness, adds value to being and living here. For visitors, it makes them feel there is great public opportunity to recreate and play here, adding to the local attraction. I think it’s largely the same for many locals when it comes to recreation. There’s an intrinsic value to living in a place where most people can simply walk out their back doors and be on public land where they can fish, hike, bike, snowmobile and ski; or more.

In fact, many private properties that touch or abut public lands boast of higher value simply because of that fact.

For agriculture and resource extraction (logging and mining here in Grand), public ownership is a value-added feature. I doubt ranchers who currently lease federal land for grazing (at extremely favorable rates to the ranchers) will be happy to run out with all the money they have in the bank to buy that land and own it outright. It would expensive and would not make sense unless they are extremely wealthy.

And for uses such as logging and mining, outright ownership of the land doesn’t make sense when it can be leased or utilized through government contracts, which are usually favorable to industry. Once again, only the already wealthy entities would be able to see long term value in switching to private ownership for these sorts of extraction.

As many people may not be aware, it is possible for people wanting to “own” public lands to acquire those lands. That is through the land-exchange process, which allows people to swap public lands for other private lands that the federal government wants to acquire. Such processes have been used quite often in Grand County, most notably through the private acquisition of some lands at the base of the Winter Park Resort.

And I fear that if public lands could simply be “purchased,” the uses to which those once federal lands would be subjected would not always be in the public interest. My guess is that already-wealthy landowners would use this new right to buy up easements to public land (therefore locking up essentially public land to de-facto private use), closing off public access. Resort and commercial developers would then use this to buy attractive parcels to then milk it for financial gain only, not to benefit the general public. Imagine, if you will, a new dirt bike race course (or downhill mountain bike course) set up right on the hillside next to Monarch Lake, or near the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, or leading up to Strawberry Lake.

And my guess that any land that becomes available would go to the highest bidder, therefore taking the average man and the little guy completely out of the running. Imagine . . . more little kingdoms set up on our public land.

Federal lawmakers who are pushing this selling-public-lands notion are gaslighting America when they say any such land could open up property to more housing, employee housing and better public services. This seems like an outright lie to me since by far the most profitable use of any such land is intense resort or extraction use or high end home sales, to include denser, high-end residential properties.

I think opening up our public lands in Grand County for sale would hurt existing land values, degrade our existing public lands experiences and benefit only the super rich and “inside” players.

We should keep what’s public now public forever or all of us locals will pay the price.
Patrick Brower is the Enterprise Facilitator for the Grand Enterprise Initiative. He offers free and confidential business management coaching to anyone who wants to start or expand a business in Grand County. He is also the author of “KILLDOZER: The True Story of the Colorado Bulldozer Rampage.” He can be reached by calling 970-531-0632 or at patrickbrower@kapoks.org.