Blue Valley Land Exchange

TU Chapter president, Kirk Klancke wrote an insightful op-ed which was published in the Wednesday, February 8, 2023 Sky Hi News and Summit Daily News. He presented a careful, fact based commentary explaining why TU supports the exchange and feels the opposition to it is misguided.

TU’s  approach to this and so many other issues remains to pursue the art of the possible. We work hard to accomplish things that actually can be achieved to benefit our rivers and broader environment. Here’s what Kirk had to say:

As a lifelong advocate for healthy fisheries and public access to those fisheries, I want to express my support for the BLM’s approval of the Blue Valley Land Exchange and make it clear that everything promised in the land exchange will get done.

When I read the Sky Hi News and Summit Daily News report on the announcement, I was concerned about what sounded like criticism from Colorado Wild Public Lands which has a track record of being skeptical of all land exchanges. I have studied the Blue Valley Land Exchange for years as its features have evolved through negotiation and recommendations from many stakeholders. Any suggestion that the public will never see the benefits detailed in the change document is not true. The Blue River restoration project upstream from the Colorado and Lower Blue River confluence and the many new recreation features in the exchange package are guaranteed to occur when the exchange is completed. BLM’s Record of Decision clearly states that at closing, Blue Valley Ranch must post a performance bond to cover the cost of all improvements and funding for an endowment to cover the long term operation and maintenance of the recreation features. Grand County estimates these investments will exceed $2 million. Not a penny of taxpayer money will be spent.

Upstream below Green Mountain Dam, the land exchange will unlock access to a mile and a half of Gold Medal river in Green Mountain Canyon. That means more public access to the river for more people.

Any objective fair-minded reading of the Blue Valley Land Exchange leads to the conclusion that it is overwhelmingly in the public interest.

Kirk Klancke,
President, Headwaters Chapter Trout Unlimited