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 trades 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 public lands and public access by ensuring transparency, accountability, and public engagement in decisions involving land trades, sales, and other actions that result in privatization of our lands.
Colorado Wild Public Lands (CWPL) is a non-profit organization with a clear mission to protect public lands. Founded in 2014, CWPL has a small but active board, an executive director, and over 150 member-volunteers working to protect the integrity, size, and quality of our public lands, especially throughout 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Our advocacy has caused Land Exchanges to be withdrawn or revised to provide greater public benefit.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.
