Your Land Exchange Watchdog

Protecting the integrity, size and quality of our Colorado public lands,
especially in the land exchange process

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.

Keep It Open, Keep It Ours

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.

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 publichas 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. Corridors connecting larger landscapes become fragmented and public access is frequently lost.

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Our advocacy has caused Land Exchanges to be withdrawn or revised to provide greater public benefit.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.

What We Do

A Win For Land Exchange Transparency

Click to read the press release and the hearing.

Land Exchanges Serve the Wealthy

Check out the opinion piece written by our very own board member Erica Rosenberg that's received a lot of attention recently! Read it here.

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