Land Acquisition & Preservation

Winter Park Resort has twice entered into land exchanges with the US Forest Service.

The hope of the US Forest Service is to acquire privately held lands that are critical because they are "inholdings" within an extent of public land, because they hold unique vegetation, wetlands and habitat, and/or because they connect public lands making Forest boundaries more logical and easier to manage. These lands are called the offered lands.

To acquire the offered lands the US Forest Service is willing to give up lands owned by the United States that have lost their "forest character". These lands tend to be impacted with special uses, such as roads, buildings, utilities and railroads. These lands are called the selected lands.

Exchanges are made for like value based on appraisals approved by both the United States and the owners of the offered lands. Since the selected lands are usually lands which already have commercial uses, and have an underlying zone which allows such use, they tend to appraise at a higher value than the offered lands. The result is that the proceeds from the sale of a few acres of selected lands is able to purchase a great many more acres of offered lands providing a significant increase in public land, as will be demonstrated below.


The 1994 Land Exchange

Offered Lands County Approximate Size
West Creek Larimer 453 acres
Poudre Heights Larimer 18 acres
Elkhorn Creek Larimer 176 acres
Hurd Creek/Hamilton Creek Grand 140 acres
Land adjacent to Comanche Peak Wilderness Larimer 23 acres
Lewis Homestead Ranch Larimer 160 acres
Clark Homestead Ranch Larimer 160 acres
Cirque Meadows Larimer 40 acres
Spencer Heights Resort Larimer 42 acres
Shadow Mountain Lake shoreline Grand 14 acres
Lions Head Gulch Larimer 40 acres
TOTAL OFFERED LANDS

1266 ACRES

Selected Lands County Approximate Size
Lands at the base of Winter Park Resort,
between railroad and ski area,
between railroad and US Highway 40,
between Hwy 40 and Fraser River and
between Fraser River and ski area.		 Grand 80.96 acres
TOTAL SELECTED LANDS 80.96 ACRES
NET INCREASE IN PUBLIC LANDS 1185.04 ACRES

The 2001 Land Exchange

Offered Lands

County Approximate Size Description
Strawberry Lake
 Grand 316 acres Lodgepole pine and mixed conifer, diverse wetland, a large meadow, Strawberry Lake and ponds. One of the last remaining inholdings in the SE part of the Arapaho National Recreation Area.
Boyd Property Grand 49 acres Montane and subalpine habitat on the south shore of Meadow Creek reservoir. Included is an osprey nest and a pristine wetland meadow that links shoreline habitat with interior forest.
Mount Eva Property Grand 640 acres A key part of the open tundra corridor along the Continental Divide. The Last large block of non-Federal land in the James Peak Special Interest Area, An area managed for Non-motorized use.
Church Property on Green Ridge Larimer 180 acres This property was burned in The Bobcat Gulch wildfire
In 2000. It is expected to regenerate with ponderosa
pine and grassy meadows.
Maxwell Property Larimer 432 acres Offers excellent diversity and linkages to adjacent Forest. Potential old-growth ponderosa pine and Douglas fir habitat.
City of Fort Collins Property Larimer 157 acres A block of montane habitat between the Cache La Poudre Wilderness and the Comanche Peak Wilderness. Includes a
mixed conifer forested corridor and a riparian corridor.
TOTAL OFFERED LANDS 1774 ACRES

Selected Lands

 County Approximate Size Description
Moffat Parcels Grand 13.6 acres Contains Denver Water Board administration, maintenance buildings, fueling area, parking, materials storage and access roads. Also included are railroad tracks, a tunnel and numerous
utilities. Undeveloped land holds Buck Creek, a mixed conifer forest and riparian forest wetland associated with Buck Creek.
TOTAL SELECTED LANDS
 13.6 ACRES
NET INCREASE IN PUBLIC LANDS
 1760.4 ACRES

Winter Park Resort and the US Forest Service in the two land exchanges have increased the amount of public land in the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest by approximately 2945 acres. The offered lands are beautiful properties that enhance the Forest and in some cases contain habitat that is unique to the areas in which they are situated. Their acquisition often protects them from imminent development. In contrast, the selected lands involved in the land exchanges were already developed for various special uses. The selected lands, over time, had taken on an urbanized look in support of transportation and other Fraser Valley needs. These exchanges truly are a win-win for everyone. Winter Park Resort has acquired land needed to support economic activity in the Valley while being assured that the beauty and wonders of our natural environment is preserved and enhanced.

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