A December 15 news release said the Grand Junction Field Office has acquired two parcels through the Land and Water Conservation Fund covering 1,600 acres in Mesa and Garfield counties, adjacent to the South Shale Ridge Area of Critical Environmental Concern and Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range.
Private land is shown in white on this map from the National Data Viewer.
The Fund acquired the property from the Latham family and is now transferring it to the BLM, according to the announcement.
The Operator Information Report in RAS associates Authorization #0507007 with John R. Latham of De Beque.
The Allotment Information Report ties the authorization to the Dry Fork Allotment.
The Allotment Master Report puts it in the Maintain Category with 564 active AUMs on 10,973 public acres.
The allotment, not shown on the map, is a few miles north of the ACEC.
Although the selling price was not given, what other “good and valuable consideration” might come from the transaction?
- Faster processing of permit renewals?
- Greater flexibility in on and off dates?
- Access to nonrenewable AUMs?
- Minor problems overlooked?
Who knows! Maybe it’s a different Latham.
But how are you supposed to be objective and even-handed in cases like this?
Western Horse Watchers Association 