What Are Public Lands?
Lands owned by the public and managed by land management agencies, primarily the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
What Is A Land Exchange?
Land exchanges are swaps of tracts of land between government agencies and private entities or between government agencies.
The Problem
Federal Laws and Policies require agencies to make sure that the values of the lands exchanged are equal or better for the public.
That often doesn’t happen.
Protecting the integrity, size, and quality of our Colorado public lands, especially in the land exchange process.
Colorado Wild Public Lands is a pragmatic citizen-lead Non-profit organization with a broad perspective. Founded in 2014, CWPL includes 6 board members, 1 full-time staff, and over 150 member-volunteers working to protect the integrity, size, and quality of our Colorado public lands, especially in the land exchange process.
The Proposals
Private entities push proposals for private gain, generally outside of the federal planning process. Proponents take years to contrive their plans and prepare submissions, while the public has only 30-45 days to discover the costs, mobilize, and respond.
What’s At Stake
Proposals often pit user groups or communities against each other. Wildlands are undervalued or are lost to developed uses.
Land Exchange Experts
We know the process, the paperwork, the tricks, and how to mobilize people. We are differentiated by our technical expertise with over 100 years of experience with public lands management.
Results
Our advocacy has caused Land Exchanges to be withdrawn or revised to provide greater public benefit. We uncover undisclosed information and impacts in proposed land swaps, and we champion the public interest in proposed rule changes.
