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National Park Service
The Sangre de Cristo Mountains, seen here from the Great Sand Dunes National Park, are the backbone of a proposed conservation area announced Friday with a billionaire's pledge to protect 90,000 acres from development.
A billionaire hedge-fund manager on Friday pledged to protect 90,000 acres of his Colorado ranch from further development as part of a much larger planned conservation area. The Obama administration said it would be the "largest single conservation easement" ever provided to the federal government.
The easement, which would include tax benefits for New York-based Louis Bacon, provides "the foundation for the proposed new Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area," the Interior Department announced.
Should the conservation area happen, Bacon said Friday, "I will place approximately 90,000 currently unprotected acres of the Blanca portion of Trinchera Ranch into a conservation easement."
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who grew up in the area and announced the deal with Bacon at his side, said the ranch "is in one of the most beautiful places in the country" -- and home to three peaks above 14,000 feet that are in the center of the longest U.S. mountain chain.
Conserving the land will protect the region's water and wildlife, Salazar told reporters. The region is used as a corridor by bison, cougars, black bears, bighorn sheep, elk and deer, and borders the Great Sand Dunes National Park.
The proposed conservation area -- which would be much larger than Bacon's ranch -- "remains largely unchanged and is a place where wildlife can migrate between the high prairies of eastern New Mexico and the high mountain valleys of central Colorado," an Interior team that scouted the area last year reported.
Department of Interior
The circled area of interest represents the 3,000,000 acres studied by the Interior Department for the Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area.
"Maintaining such an open corridor is important for species survival and overall ecosystem health," the team added. "There are few other places in the southwestern United States where such an open and unchanged landscape exists."
Bacon, ranked by Forbes as the 312th richest American with a $1.4 billion estimated net worth, bought the 172,000-acre Trinchera Ranch from the family of billionaire Malcolm Forbes in 2007 for $175 million -- which media reports at the time called the most expensive single property ever sold in the U.S.
The Forbes family had earlier placed more than 80,000 acres of the ranch in a conservation easement.
Easements allow continued ranching and hunting but no construction of significant structures. They also provide tax incentives to property owners.
"The conservation incentives are incredibly efficient ways of conserving land," Greg Yankee, policy director for the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts, told msnbc.com.
Colorado grants a maximum $375,000 tax credit for any easement, he added, and a property owner who meets all the criteria could also list the easement as a federal income tax deduction.
The Interior Department did not immediately respond to a request for how much Bacon could expect.
Billionaire Ted Turner, founder of CNN, owns the largest parcel inside the proposed conservation area -- the 600,000-acre Vermejo Ranch.
Salazar told the Denver Post that while he's had conversations with Turner, there were no specific proposals in the works.
"It'll happen over the next several years," Salazar said of the larger conservation area. "It's important that, as the conservation efforts move forward, that it be done with full cognizance of the need to honor water rights and property rights on the valley floor."
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Leave a Comment:
God Bless anyone who is willing to give back to our country in whatever shape or form they are capable of. It is refreshing to see this in a country with way too many selfish bastards running around.
This is very noble until you realize where this land actually is! It is in the Blanca part of the Trinchera Ranch, where there is NO WATER, NO ELECTRICITY, NO ARABLE LAND, NO ROADS and SAND -- many hundreds of thousands of acres of sand and nothing but sand. This guy is getting a colossal TAX WRITE OFF for putting into a conservation easement land that is NO GOOD for anything else! Billionaires always get the breaks because they DON'T NEED THEM.
He's getting a very small tax break...go back and read the article and quit using all caps. Makes you look stupid.
Nothing but sand?? Seems to support a multitude of wildlife!!!!
There is a gesture in the right direction. His political allegiance is irrelevant. More billionaires need to do things of equal magnanimity.
First off I want to thank him for conserving this land.
BUT...How do these giant pieces of property (like the former (now Bacon's) 172,000 acre Forbes or 600,000 acre Turner property) in areas that are or should have been public property get bought by individuals??? I've not done research on these properties but was just curious.
I know during the Bush years I watched the Gov GSA sell federal park land to developers many times and I don't understand where they get the gall to sell the peoples property. An underutilized building in a city is one thing, but forests and federal park LAND are another. I wish there was an open season on politicians.
Well, just found executive orders by both Ray-Gun and Bush. Hmmm...Directive to Directors...Find a reason (costs too much to maintain) to steal the peoples land and sell it off to my cronies to build golf courses and playgrounds for the rich.
Dear God, grow up and get some sense. Ever hear of ranches? Arid country requires lots of land to graze animals on. At least there's some elements of conservation here. Would you rather see developers and miners and a host of other land destroyers using the land instead?
Most of the land out here is owned by the government. People acquire land by buying it from the previous owners or from the government. It does not belong to "the people" in literal sense.
Finally. A billionaire who is devoted to something else that supporting politicians who will pursue policies that will make him richer at the expense of the middle class.
Good for Louis Bacon for 'thinking big'. As for his wealth, good for him as well, and even better knowing that he is of a philanthropic bent.
We all -- or most of us, at any rate -- have the opportunity to excel, succeed, and grow in life, in whatever fashion floats our boat, provided it is done with integrity. The more we grow as a person, the more we can give back to this planet -- which is all the more incentive to grow. Successful people who demonstrate some form of generosity are teaching two vital things: 1. it is possible to be very successful, and 2. it is possible to be both successful and generous.
In two non partisan words....
THANK YOU !
Yup... until he's dead and developers start eyeing it for a golf course or for an upscale neighborhood with country club.
Do you realize how obscene it is that one single person owns more than 90k acres when there are millions of people who own nothing, not even a place to live?
Oh boo hoo, you do realize it is not the the fault of the rich that cause you to have nothing and be a failure in life.
Would it be obscene if you were the owner?? Think not!!! GO out and get something for YOURSELF rather than expect to get it handed to you!!!! We can't all be super rich but we can work for enough to be happy! Just get over ourself and Quityerbitchin'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How does ANYONE own 140 square miles of "property" in the US?
It's called a ranch. Do you live back east or something?
They apparently don't understand the concept of ranching or farming. Guess they think food comes in cans or shrink wrapped. BTW, I could have owned one square mile of land in New Mexico, could have bought it for $300 an acre. No water, no roads, nothing but dirt and sage. I would have and today wish I had, bought it, but I lived too far away and the no water was a real big problem.
Southeastern NM?
Rio Grande Gorge area near Taos. Double sad, no?
Absolutely. Use to go fishing along the Cimarron river back when I lived in Amarillo, TX and hunted in the Lincoln NF near Carrizozo.
I've tramped all over NM, Northeastern NM is beautiful, ditto the four corners regions and the areas around Los Alamos and up into Bandalier Canyon especially so. I am deeply saddened by all the wildfires in the area.
I'm not impressed. It's sad that the wealthiest can steal what rightfully belongs to all humans, and then claim magnanimity and beneficence for returning it. From the article, it's not even clear that the land will be available to everyone, aside from the promises to conserve it -- and the landowner can break or change his promises at any time.
Well, considering how the 'public' is really good at trashing a place, perhaps that 'public ownership' needs to be examined a bit. Nothing like dirt bikes, mounds of trash and litter and idiots shooting at anything larger than a beetle to enhance public lands.
So how did the wealthy steal these lands. You really should be embarrassed by your stupidity and ignorance of land ownership.
Since someone earlier had to politicize this gesture, let's call a spade a spade. If there is anything in this nation that needs conserving, it is the liberal element spending crazily in Washington D.C. Put this agenda into a conservation area for posterity...as it were. This country would be a lot better off if the left side of our political equation and it's chief didn't have carte blanch spending privileges with public money. P.S. I belong to the Sierra Club!
Robert,
When will you guys get it through your head? Bush's debt is gonna cost us more in the long run. Just prescription D is gonna cost us 5 trillion over 25 years at least.
They always forget about what Bush did. He put two of the most expensive wars ever on the credit card. Had Bush not run up his debt so high, Obama's would not be near as high either.
Wow, blame Bush. Now, a man giving land up for conservation is now Bush's fault? Reaching really hard here.
Bush is gone!! Has been for some time now!! Stop bitchin' about whats done and start talking about what we can do to make things better!!! For christ sake get over the damn blame game and do something productive!!!!! Obama hasn't done a whole lot to improve anything and neither has congress cause their too damn busy furthering their own agendas. Does it reall matter if Obama or Romney becomes the next POTUS if things don't change in the way ALL pols run this country???? I for one don't think so!
Salazar had a side of bacon?
YEA!! I grew up in that area also. Beautiful.
Salazar will make it into a rich man's hunting club. Everyone knows his stance on horse slaughter. Why would this be any different. I just hope the donor can control the human greed that others that survive him would want to do with this land. If anyone doesn't know who Ken Salazar is, just google his name.
need someone to manage it?
Wonderful! What better way to spend ones riches than to conserve a large beautiful area and thereby prevent more humans from potentially putting more scars on Mother Earth which they seem to like to do by building monuments unto themselves. When someone does something positive, acknowledge it.
Don't be overly impressed with the altruism of the people "giving" this gift. If I'm correct, it is what's know as a "conservation easement" which means they still own the property, but can deduct a huge "charitable" deduction on their federal income tax return. This will be worth millions and millions in reduced income taxes for them while they continue to own the property. Presto/chango...a tax deduction right out of thin air!!!
Well you have a point but try to look at it from the perspective of the earth and the wildlife that will become extinct with man following right behind if we don't take care of at least some of the land.
Way to bring home the bacon Mr. Bacon. And much appreciated. I hope to be able to visit it someday. First things first...getting my 4 through college. :)
Peace & :)
MTW
So I guess that Obama likes Hedge fund managers now. What will OWS say?
If there isn't a "Mineral Withdrawl" or "No Surface Occupancy" designation placed on this land along with the conservation easement, it can be mined (think open pit or leveling a mountain for gold) and it can be opened for oil and gas extraction (think a spiderweb of roads, pipelines, human activity everywhere, infrastructure.) This type of use is as much or more of an impact than subdivisions. A conservation easement by itself is great, it disallows subdivision and other things, but without these extra steps, many species of wildlife will be affected. The DOI is probably licking their chops already. The owner may not understand the fine points of how leveling a mountain to get 1 ounce of gold per ton of rock if you're lucky, affects species like deer, elk and others. It's wildlife science and it is a science. And if this guy is aware and a GOP lover like some other discussions say, the owner will lease the land in a heartbeat for mineral development and oil/gas extraction. And in the meantime, everyone will think he's such a great humanitarian for having the conservation easement. All the folks who've written cooing over how wonderful this man is, need to educate themselves.
Doubt seriously that the owner is an idiot. Imagine he understands the impact of mining etc. and...if that were his intentions he would have done so already, why bother with conservation easements if you're going to drill, mine or frack?
Deep thinkers like silent majority need to proof read what they write. But he/she/it is a liberal and that is as far as they can go with their limited brain powers. Mygirl1 has it exactly right, but I am sure it goes right over silent's head.
I can only applaud this billionaire! We need more people like him. People might say he has a bad conscience being a hedge fund manager. Sorry I had to say that. But I think you can be a hedge fund manager and do great things with your money.
Good for him! I don't care what the tax incentives are, it's great for preservation and the enjoyment of the public. Lots of extremely wealthy do nothing for the public good; this guy gave back so give him some credit.
Now if they can just get Ted Turner to do the same. He could gift that much land back to the people in several states. Heyy Ted, if not Colorado, how about Montana?
So what who cares who he supports. All of us get to enjoy this 90,000 acres and not just a few rich people. Don't be stupid that the land is not worth anything. Any land is worth plenty in the Rockies of Colorado.
Thank you, Mr. Bacon. What beautiful country! Thanks for keeping it natural and as it is. I hope to visit someday :)