2008-03-04_ENFORCEMENT - M1979181 (3)

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THE FREE Volume 7, Number 69 Tuesday, October 10 -Thursday, October 13, 2003 Property Owner Seeks Buyer Who Will Keep Yankee Boy Basin Parcel Open Bt' L[z Ln~ce The 180-plus acre parcel of land in Yankee Boy Basin near Ouray that is home to the so-called Coors Falls, and is currently [or sale, will remain open for public use if owner Dave 14'alk:+r has his say. -"That property will remain open and will have to follow in the same I'oouteps that I did before 1 would even consider Ruing anyone else own it." said Walker. Walker has treated. the land he has owned for the past 25 years as open space and has a fairly laissez- iairo attitude about visitor, asking only that they have it as they found He has posted signs instructing ,isiturs that caniping, fires and pick- ing wildtlowen are prohibited. Doug Roh~~tham of the Colorado Trust for Public Land could neither confirm nor deny the TPL's interest in participative in a deal tv buy the land and in turn, sell it ro the US Forest Service. 1V'alker is asking $4.4 million, or $6J million with a gold mine thrown in. Bob Kirsch, Chairman of the Red Mountain Project Task Force, which is instru- mental in the organization of pur- chasing old mining claims in the area, said the task force is interested in seeing the land preserved as open space. "We do have our sights set on the Yankee Boy Basin land;' Kirsch said. "R'e have decided that if there's any way w'e can do it, ~'e would like to buy this land." The Red Mountain Project does- n't actually purchase land, but works with organizations like the TPL to facilitate turning old mining claims and other private property in the Ouray-Silverton-Telluride triangle over to the public domain. Kirsch points out that this area was once considered for designation as a national park, but was ultimately -ejected because of its extensive min- eralization and mining potential. In its five-year existence, the Red Mountain Project has attracted the attention of Colorado senators Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Wayne Allard, Congressman Scott McInnis and Governor Bill Owens, and has secured a $14 million Congressional appropriation to go toward land acquisition. The TPL buys the land and serves as the temporary owner before the federal Funds are available for transfer to the Forest Service. But because the Forest Service can only buy land at its fair market value, TPL must do an extensive appraisal to determine that value before a parcel is considered for acquisition. Moreover, the land preservation group seeks assurance that a pur- chase will be successful before even undertaking an appraisal. Robotham explained TPL's role as helping to conserve the landscape that is unique to this part of the state. The TPL's goal is to conserve approximately 11,000 acres of pri- vate inholdings between National Forest lands between Telluride, Ouray and Silverton, of which they have already secured 3,042 acres from Idarado, 305 acres from Royal Gold, 150 acres from Excalibur Resources and 120 acres front a local family in Ouray. Robotham said the TPL expects to close a contract very soon with Idarado that would add 2,400 acres in San Miguel County. Robotham was tight-lipped about the TPL's possible involvement with Walker's land, however. "This is one of many projects within the Red Mountain Project; it is no more or less important than any of [he other projects," he said. Area residents estimate that hun- dreds of thousands of visitors visit the falls every summer, in part due to the belief that they were the inspiration behind the waterfalls pictured on the Coors label. As it turns out, though they are not; the real falls that serv as the model are near Marble. «'alke said when he first came to Ouray i 1978, an 85-year-old resident tol him the falls were called the Coor Falls and always had been. "I said that's good and fine, bu 1 don't have any documentation [t that effect], and many of the loc people call it that," Walker sal "Honestly, several of the local peopl that own hotels have said this grope ty is the lifeblood of this communit When people come out here, the fir thing on their list is to go see th beautiful alpine area." Barbara Uhles, owner of the B Canyon Lodge in Ouray, echoed Walker's sentiment, explaining [hat the wildflowers - 29 different vari- eties, according to Walker -are also part of the draw for visitors. "You can open almost any photo book that shows photographs of the mountains in the state and you will almost always find summer pictures with the flowers. The number of pho- tographers that come and set up their tripods in the basin just to photo- graph the flowers is in the hundreds and hundreds," Uhles said. "If some- body purchased it and built up there . . I can't find a word that would describe it. It would just be devastat- ing." Aside from the famous water- falls and wildflowers, the land also sits atop a "spiderweb" of gold veins that is very rare, according to Walker's real estate broker Ed Andrews. Andrews described the mining that could be done on this property as having very little impact on the landscape. Nu milling would be done on site; the ore would be removed from one area on "a very private corner in the lower eleva- tion;' bagged, and trucked to Nevada where it would he milled. "We really don't feel there will be a negative environmental effect at all," Andrews said, were the property to be sold to a buyer interested in mining it. After a long talk with Walker, a Florida citrus grower and cattle e rancher, his sincerity in wanting to r keep the Yankee Boy Basin land n available to the public is readily d apparent. s "With all humility, 1've been honored to own such a unique alpine t property over these years," Walker o said. "I like to feel that 1've been a al good steward of the land and very d. proud of [hat... It makes you proud e and gives you a good feeling that you r- did something good for the state of y. Colorado and the people of the com- st munity." is When asked, then, why he is selling it, Walker replied with a sigh, ox "You know, you finally get old." THIS FABULOUS VISTA in Yankee Boy Basin is for sale with a X4.4 mnuon pi wo ,ay and a request to keep it open to the public. (Courtesy photo)